REESE  LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Class 


THE 

PRIMER  OF  IRRIGATION 


BY 

D.  H.  ANDERSON 

(Editor  of  "The  Irrigation  Age") 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS.  U.  S.  A. 


CHICAGO: 

THE  D.  H.  ANDERSON  PUBLISHING  Co. 

Publisher. 


'"TO  JOHN  McALPINE  of  Duluth,  Minnesota,  a  man  who 
•*•  has  devoted  years  of  his  life  to  assisting  the  toiler  and 
wage-earner,  to  better  their  condition,  and  who  is  now  fight- 
ng  for  a  clean  administration  of  The  Irrigation  Law,  this 
work  is  affectionately  dedicated. 


Copyright,  1903, 

By  D.   H.   ANDERSON 

Published  September,  1905 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

Soil  in  General,  Its   Formation,  Characteristics  and  Uses — Fertility  and 
Sterility. 

CHAPTER  II. 
Particular  Soils,  and  Their  Adaptation  to  Varieties  of  PlanU. 

CHAPTER  III. 
Semi-Arid  and  Arid  Lands — Their  Origin  and  Peculiarities. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Alkali  Soils:  Their  Nature,  Treatment  and  Reclamation. 

CHAPTER  V. 
Relations  of  Water  to  the  Soil. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Plant  Foods — Their  Nature — Distribution  and  Effects  in  General. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Plant  Foods — Cereals — Forage  Plants — Fruits — Vegetables — Root  Crops. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
How  Plant  Food  is  Transformed  Into  Plants. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Preparation  of  Soil  for  Planting. 

CHAPTER  X. 
Laying  Out  of  the  Land— Method  of  Planting. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
Laying  Out  Land  for  Irrigation. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Use  of  Wells,  Streams,  Ditches  and  Reservoirs  to   Dispose  of  the 
Tremendous  Supply  of  Water. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Science  and  Art  of  Irrigation. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Science  and  Art  of  Irrigation — Infiltration  or  Seepage. ' 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Sub-  Irrigation — Drainage. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Supplemental  Irrigation. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Quantity  of  Water  to  Raise  Crops— The  Duty  of  Water. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Measurement  of  Water. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Pumps  and  Irrigation  Machinery. 

CHAPTER  XX. 
Irrigation  of  Profitable  Crops. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Irrigation  of  Profitable  Plants. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Orchards,  Vineyards  and  Small  Fruits — Appendix. 


PREFACE 


1  I  "HE  author  of  this  work  has  had  in  mind  for  many  years 
•*•       the  outlines  of  a  book  which  would  lend  aid  to  those 
who  are  beginners  in  irrigation  farming. 

After  work  was  commenced  on  this  book  it  was  realized 
that  much  more  than  fifty  or  even  one  hundred  pages  would 
be  necessary  to  even  half-way  cover  the  subject,  and  before  it 
was  completed  nearly  three  hundred  pages  of  type  were  used. 
While  much  of  value  could  be  added,  and  no  doubt  a 
lot  could  be  taken  away  without  serious  loss,  the  author  offers 
it  as  it  is,  hoping  that  its  readers  may  find  some  profit  in  its 
perusal. 

D.  H.  ANDERSON. 

Chicago,  July  1,  1905. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


THE   PRIMER  OF  IRRIGATION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SOIL  IN  GENERAL— ITS  FORMATION,  CHARACTERISTICS 
AND  USES — FERTILITY  AND  STERILITY. 

The  mere  planting  of  a  seed  in  the  ground  is  not 
sufficient  to  insure  its  growth,  or  development  into  a 
useful  or  profitable  plant.  This  fact  is  well  known  to 
everybody,  but  what  is  not  so  well  known  is,  the  reason 
or  cause  why  a  seed  grows  up  into  a  vigorous  plant  cap- 
able of  reproducing  seed  similar  to  the  one  from  which 
it  sprang,  and  how  it  does  it. 

There  are  certain  elements  which  are  essential  to 
the  growth  of  every  plant,  the  development  of  every 
germ,  for  without  them  it  cannot  live;  these  are  heat, 
light,  air  and  moisture.  A  few  grains  of  wheat  dis- 
covered in  the  coffin  of  an  Egyptian  mummy  after 
three  or  four  thousands  years'  deprivation  of  the  four 
essential  elements,  were  found  inert,  that  is,  they  were 
not  alive,  neither  were  they  dead,  for  upon  giving  them 
the  essentials  above  referred  to,  the  wheat  sprang  into 
life  and  produced  a  plentiful  supply  of  grain. 

PLANTS  ARE  LIKE  ANIMALS. 

Still,  notwithstanding  the  necessity  of  heat,  light, 
air  and  moisture,  plants  cannot  flourish  without  proper 
food.  In  this  respect  plants  are  similar  to  animals. 
Among  animals  there  is  no  universal  specified  diet, 
some  eating  one  kind  of  food,  others  another.  We  see 
many  that  eat  flesh  exclusively,  others  whose  sole  diet  is 
insects.  Certain  animals  eat  herbs  and  grass,  others 
grain,  and  when  we  reach  man  we  find  an  animal  that 

7 


8  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

will  eat  anything  and  everything,  hence  we  call  man 
"omnivorous.'' 

It  is  the  same  with  plants,  some  devouring  in  their 
fashion  a  certain  kind  of  food,  some  another,  and  so  on 
all  along  the  list.  Plants  are  substantially  like  animals 
that  possess  a  stomach,  they  eat  and  digest,  absorb  and 
assimilate  the  food  they  obtain.  If  the  plant  is  not 
furnished  with  its  proper  food,  or  if  it  is  prevented 
from  obtaining  it,  it  shrivels,  droops,  withers  and  dies 
just  like  an  animal  that  starves  to  death. 

There  is  another  striking  resemblance  between 
plants  and  animals,  which  is  the  instinct  and  power  to 
seek  food.  The  plant  being  a  fixture  in  the  soil,  can- 
not of  course,  "prowl"  about  in  search  of  food,  but  it 
throws  out  roots,  fibres  and  filaments  in  every  direc- 
tion, its  instincts  reaching  in  the  direction  of  food  as 
surely  and  with  as  much  certainty  as  the  nose  of  an 
animal  scents  its  prey,  or  the  eye  of  an  eagle  sees  its 
quarry.  Not  only  does  the  plant  seek  food  beneath  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  but  it  thrusts  shoots,  branches  and 
leaves  up  into  the  atmosphere  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
tracting nourishment  there  also. 

It  is,  however,  from  the  soil  that  plants  receive  the 
principal  supply  of  food  necessary  for  their  develop- 
ment, hence  an  acquaintance  with  its  chemical  and 
physical  properties  is  important  in  helping  us  to  under- 
stand the  nutritive  processes  of  plants,  and  the  operations 
of  a-griculture. 

Volumes  of  books  have  been  written  on  the  general 
subject  of  agriculture,  but  they  are  more  adapted  to 
soils  upon  which  falls  sufficient  rain  to  dissolve  the  salts 
necessary  to  produce  a  crop.  In  a  book  devoted  to  irri- 
gation, the  principles  of  agriculture  and  the  adaptation 
of  the  various  elements  of  plant  food  in  the  soil,  are 
all  the  more  important  as  the  water  employed  in  irri- 
gation— which  is  nothing  but  artificial  rain — is  abso- 
lutely within  the  control  of  man,  and  not  dependent 
upon  meteorological  uncertainties.  One  fact  should, 


Soil  in  General.  0 

however,  be  constantly  borne  in  mind  by  the  practical 
irrigator,  that  pure  water  is  absolutely  sterile  so  far  as 
plant  food  is  concerned,  and  if  poured  upon  a  pure 
soil,  which  is  also  sterile,  there  can  be  no  crop  of  any 
sort  raised.  A  remedy  for  supplying  a  defect  of  plant 
food  in  irrigating  water  will  be  given  in  detail  in 
another  chapter,  the  scope  of  this  chapter  being  limited 
to  soils  that  contain  plant  food,  or  are  arable,  in  which 
case  the  quality  of  the  water  is  of  secondary  importance. 

ORIGIN  OF  ARABLE  SOIL. 

Arable  soil  owes  its  formation  to  the  disintegra- 
tion of  minerals  and  rocks,  brought  about  by  mechanical 
and  chemical  agencies.  The  rock  may  be  said  to  stand 
in  about  the  same  relation  to  the  arable  soil  resulting 
from  its  disintegration  as  the  wood  or  vegetable  fibre 
stands  to  what  is  called  the  humus  resulting  from  its 
decay.  To  be  fertile,  however,  the  soil  must  contain 
disintegrated  vegetable  matter.  There  is  no  fertility 
in  a  heap  of  sawdust,  nor  is  there  in  a  heap  of  powdered 
rock;  indeed,  the  two  might  be  combined  and  still  re- 
main sterile,  it  is  only  after  both  have  been  disinte- 
grated by  chemical  or  mechanical  action  that  they  be- 
come plant  foods  capable  of  nourishing  and  maintaining 
plant  life. 

From  this  it  results  that  soil  consists  of  two  grand 
divisions  of  elements:  inorganic  and  organic.  The 
inorganic  are  wholly  mineral,  they  are  the  products  of 
the  chemical  action  of  the  metallic,  or  unmetallic  ele- 
ments of  rocks.  They  existed  before  plants  or  animals. 
Life  has  not  called  them  into  existence,  nor  created 
them  out  of  simple  elements.  Yet  these  inorganic  min- 
eral elements  of  soil  become  part  of  plants,  and  under 
the  influence  of  the  principle  of  life  they  no  longer 
obey  chemical  laws,  but  are  parts  of  a  living  structure. 
Through  the  operation  of  the  laws  of  the  life  of  the 
plant,  these  mineral  elements  become  organic  and  so 


10  The  Primtr  of  Irrigation. 

continue  until  death  comes  and  decay  begins,  when 
they  return  to  their  mineral  form. 

Organic  'elements  are  the  products  of  substances 
once  endowed  with  life.  This  power  influences  the  ele- 
ments, recombines  them  in  forms  so  essentially  con- 
nected with  life  that  they  are,  with  few  exceptions,  pro- 
duced only  by  a  living  process.  They  are  the  products  of 
living  organs,  hence  termed  organic,  and  when  formed, 
are  subject  to  chemical  laws.  The  number  of  elements 
in  the  inorganic  parts  of  soil  is  twelve:  Oxygen,  sul- 
phur, phosphorus,  carbon,  silicon  and  the  metals :  potas- 
sium, sodium,  calcium,  aluminium,  magnesium,  iron 
and  manganese. 

The  number  of  elements  in  the  organic  parts  of 
soil  does  not  exceed  four:  Oxygen,  hydrogen,  carbon 
and  nitrogen. 

The  great  difference  between  these  two  divisions 
is,  that  while  the  inorganic  elements  are  combinations 
of  two  elementary  substances,  the  organic  are  com- 
binations of  three  or  four  elements,  but  never  less  than 
two.  These  three  elements,  however,  are  variously 
combined  with  the  other  elements  to  form  salts  which 
enter  into  the  great  body  of  vegetable  products,  in  fact 
they  are  continually  changing,  the  mere  change  of  one 
element,  or  its  abstraction  forming  a  new  product.  It 
IB  this  susceptibility  to  change,  and  the  constant  as- 
sumption of  new  forms  by  vegetable  products  which  is 
the  foundation  of  tillage,  and  the  essence  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  irrigation. 

HOW  PLANTS  FEED. 

We  do  not  know  and  we  may  not  understand  what 
life  is,  nor  how  plants  grow,  but  it  is  a  knowledge  which 
comes  to  the  most  superficial  observer,  that  all  plants 
feed  upon  various  substances  their  roots  find  in  the 
soil,  which  substances  are  called  "salts,"  and  they  are 
prepared  for  the  uses  of  the  plant  by  the  action  of  or- 
ganic matter  on  the  inorganic  or  vice  versa.  That  is  to 


Soil  in  Central.  11 

say,  vegetable  matter  combines  with  decomposed  rocks 
or  minerals  and  forms  a  plant  food  without  which  the 
plant  cannot  live.  We  know  as  a  fact  that  the  silicates 
or  rock  elements  and  minerals  or  metallic  salts  compose 
all  the  earthy  ingredients  of  soil,  and  are  always  found 
in  plants,  the  ashes  of  any  burned  vegetable  or  plant 
showing  this.  But  these  silicates  and  salts  do  not  make 
fertility  in  soil.  Fertility  depends  on  the  presence  in 
the  soil  of  matter  which  has  already  formed  a-  part  of 
a  living  structure,  organic  substances  in  fact.  It  is 
this  matter  which  causes  constant  chemical  changes  in 
which  lies  the  very  essence  of  fertility.  To  make  this 
quite  clear,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  refer  to  the  fertility 
in  the  valley  of  the  Nile  in  Egypt  caused  by  the  over- 
flow of  the  river  and  the  deposits,  upon  the  silicates 
and  minerals  or  metallic  salts,  which  in  plain  language 
means  the  sands  of  the  desert,  of  a  layer  of  mud  con- 
taining decomposed  vegetable  or  organic  matter.  The 
consequence  is,  chemical  action  takes  place  and  a  rich 
harvest  follows.  The  result  would  be  the  same  in  our 
arid  plains  where  the  soil  contains  all  the  ingredients 
necessary  to  plant  life,  but  the  element  of  moisture  to 
dissolve  and  unite  them  is  absent.  Here,  irrigation 
creates  fertility.  The  oxygen  and  the  hydrogen  in  the 
water  supplies  the  soil  with  the  elements  it  lacks  to  man- 
ufacture plant  food. 

There  is  a  curious,  not  to  say  mysterious,  fact  con- 
nected with  the  transformation  of  the  organic  and  inor- 
ganic elements  in  the  soil  into  plant  food,  and  that  is, 
the  chemical  change  does  not  take  place  except  through 
the  intervention  or  agency  of  the  living  plant  itself. 
It  is  life  that  is  necessary  to  the  process  and  this  life 
of  the  plant  gives  life  to  the  inert  elements  around  it. 
The  mere  presence  of  a  living  plant  gives  to  the  ele- 
ments power  to  enter  into  new  combinations,  and 
then  these  combinations  occur  in  obedience  only  to  the 
well-known,  established,  eternal  laws  of  chemical 

affinity' 


12  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

If,  on  a  dry  day,  a  wheat  or  barley  plant  is  care- 
fully pulled  up  from  a  loose  soil,  a  cylinder  of  earthy 
particles  will  be  seen  to  adhere  like  a  sheath  around 
every  root  fibre.  This  will  be  also  noticed  in  the  case  -of 
every  plant.  It  is  from  these  earthy  particles  that  the 
plant  derives  the  phosphoric  acid,  potash,  silicic  acid, 
and  all  the  other  metallic  salts,  as  well  as  ammonia. 
The  little  cylinders  are  the  laboratories  in  which  nature 
prepares  the  food  absorbed  by  the  plant,  and  this  food 
is  prepared  or  drawn  from  the  earth  immediately  con- 
tiguous to  the  plant  and  its  roots.  This  demonstrates 
the  importance  of  the  mechanical  tillage  of  the  ground. 
Cultivated  plants  receive  their  food  principally  from 
the  earthy  particles  with  which  the  roots  are  in  direct 
contact,  out  of  a  solution  forming  around  the  roots 
themselves.  All  nutritive  substances  lying  beyond  the 
immediate  reach  of  the  roots,  though  effective  as  food, 
are  not  available  for  the  use  of  the  plants,  hence  the 
necessity  of  constant  tillage,  cultivation  of  the  soil,  to 
bring  the  nutrition  in  conta-ct  with  the  roots. 

FORMATION  AND  USE  OF  EARTH  SALTS. 

A  plant  is  not,  like  an  animal,  endowed  with  spe- 
cial organs  to  dissolve  the  food  and  make  it  ready  for 
absorption;  this  preparation  of  the  nutriment  is  as- 
signed to  the  fruitful  earth  itself,  which  in  this  respect 
discharges  the  functions  performed  by  the  stomach  and 
intestines  of  animals.  The  arable  soil  decomposes  all 
salts  of  potash,  of  ammonia,  and  the  soluble  phosphates, 
and  the  potash,  ammonia,  and  phosphoric  acid  always 
take  the  same  form  in  the  soil,  no  matter  from  what 
salt  they  are  derived. 

It  is  essential  that  these  "salts,"  as  they  are  called, 
should  be  understood,  for  without  them  there  can  be  no 
fertility.  Unless  these  "salts"  exist  in  a  soil  in  certain 
quantities  the  organic  elements,  or  what  are  known  as 
"humic  acids,"  are  insoluble  and  cannot  be  absorbed  into 
the  plant  through  its  roots,  and  so  there  can  be  no  fruit 


Soil  in  General.  18 

or  vegetable.  Yet  there  is  such  a  thing  as  an  excess 
of  these  same  salts,  and  then  there  is  barrenness.  A  com- 
mon illustration  of  which  may  be  seen  in  what  are  termed 
"alkali  lands,"  which  will  be  treated  in  detail  in  another 
chapter. 

To  simplify  an  acquaintance  with  these  various 
salts,  we  shall  divide  them  into  three  general  classes 
depending  upon  the  acids  formed  from  them,  all  of 
them  nutritious  to  plants. 

First — Carbonates. 

Second — Nitrates. 

Third — Phosphates. 

The  carbonates  compose  a  very  large  portion  of 
the  salts  used  in  agriculture,  and  include  limestone, 
marble,  shells.  These  salts  are  set  loose  from  the  rock, 
that  is  the  decomposed  rock  already  alluded  to,  by  the 
action  of  the  living  plant,  and  their  business  is  to  dis- 
solve, or  render  soluble,  the  organic  matter  in  the  soil, 
so  that  the  plant  may  absorb  it  through  its  roots.  When 
there  is  an  excess  of  these  salts,  or  of  lime  or  alkali, 
the  organic  matter  is  rendered  insoluble,  that  is,  the 
plant  cannot  absorb  it,  and  then  the  soil  is  barren. 
There  are,  however,  certain  plants  known  as  "gross 
feeders,"  which  flourish  in  such  soils,  but  of  them  more 
will  be  said  in  another  chapter. 

The  second  class  of  nourishing  salts  is  the  nitrates, 
and  includes  saltpeter,  nitrate  of  potash,  nitrate  of 
soda,  and  all  composts  of  lime,  alkali  and  animal  matter. 
This  class  of  salts  produces  ammonia  which  hastens  the 
decay  or  decomposition  of  the  organic  matter,  and  pre- 
pares it  for  absorption  by  the  plant.  All  the  nitrates 
act  under  the  influence  of  the  growing  plant  and  yield 
nitrogen  which  is  essential  to  its  life,  indeed,  if  there 
are  any  salts  which  can  be  called  vegetable  foods,  they 
are  the  nitrates,  and  they  hold  the  very  first  place  among 
salts  in  agriculture. 

The  third  class  of  plant  nourishing  salts  is  the 


14  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

phosphates.  They  are  found  in  bones,  liquid  manure, 
and  in  certain  rocky  formations  which  are  abundant  in 
the  United  States,  and  ground  up,  are  largely  used  upon 
land  to  add  to  its  fertility  and  increase  the  supply  of 
plant  food. 

The  phosphates  act  much  like  the  nitrates,  their 
acid  forming  a  constituent  of  the  plant. 

The  proper,  proportionate  quantity  of  all  these 
salts  in  the  soil,  is  generally  in  the  order  already  given ; 
the  carbonates  in  the  greater  quantity,  the  nitrates  in 
less  quantity,  and  the  phosphates  least.  The  quantity 
of  any  salt  which  may  be  used  to  advantage,  however, 
will  depend  upon  the  demands  or  necessity  of  the  plant 
which  will  show  for  itself  the  salt  proper  for  its  well 
being  and  perfection. 

To  still  further  simplify  the  idea  of  the  use  and 
operation  of  these  salts  and  their  necessity,  it  will 
be  well  for  the  reader  to  again  imagine  a  similarity 
between  the  plant  and  an  animal.  The  stomach  of  the 
animal  secretes,  or  produces,  gastric  juice  and  other 
acids  which  come  from  practically  similar  salts,  by  the 
action  of  which  the  organic  matter — the  meat  and  veg- 
etables— put  into  the  stomach,  are  digested  and  distrib- 
uted to  nourish  every  part  of  the  body.  If  there  were 
no  gastric  juice,  or  other  acids  formed  from  the  salts 
of  the  body,  the  organic  matter  put  into  the  stomach 
could  never  become  food,  and  the  body,  left  without 
nourishment,  would  starve  and  die. 

So  it  is  substantially  with  plants.  The  main  dif- 
ference being  that  the  plant  has  no  stomach  within 
itself,  but  it  requires  food  just  the  same  as  the  animal, 
and  if  it  does  not  receive  it,  it  starves  and  dies.  By  the 
active  principle  of  life  in  the  plant  as  in  the  animal, 
the  salts  of  the  soil  are  brought  into  the  presence  of 
each  other  to  form  acids  which  act  upon  the  organic 
matter  in  the  soil,  or  the  humus,  in  very  much  the 
same  manner  as  the  gastric  juice  and  other  acids  of  the 


Soil  in  General.  15 

animal  stomach,  convert  it  into  prepared  food,  so  to 
speak,  and  the  plant  absorbs  it,  is  nourished  by  it  and 
grows  to  maturity. 

SILICATES  AS  ESSENTIAL  TO  FERTILITY. 

There  is  one  important  prevailing  element  in  all 
soil  which  can  neither  be  overlooked  nor  ignored,  in 
fact,  its  power  of  fertility  is  unlimited;  we  refer  to  the 
silicates.  Salts  are  spoken  of  as  the  inorganic  sub- 
stances acting  upon  humus  or  organic  matter  to  pro- 
duce nourishing  foods  that  can  be  absorbed  by  the 
plant,  but  behind  these  salts,  there  is  another  sub- 
stance which  really  constitutes  the  framework  of  the 
plant  structure,  the  bony  framework  of  the  plant,  the 
sinew  of  the  soil. 

Silex,  or  silica,  which  is  the  earth  of  flints,  is,  in 
its  pure  state,  a  perfectly  white,  insipid,  tasteless 
powder.  Glass  pulverized  is  an  illustration,  so  also  is  a 
sand  heap.  But  earth  of  flints,  sand  heaps,  are  barren 
and  worthless,  as  much  so  as  a  peat  bog,  but  put  the 
two  together,  and  there  is  astonishing  fertility.  This 
silica  unites  readily  with  the  mineral  substances  or 
bases,  forming  what  are  called  "neutral  salts,"  to  which 
is  given  the  name  "silicates."  Thus  we  have  the  silicate 
of  soda,  of  potash,  of  lime,  of  magnesia,  of  alumina,  of 
iron  and  of  manganese,  a  class  which  forms  the  great 
bulk  of  all  rock  and  soil. 

The  action  of  the  silicates  is  simple  and  easily  un- 
derstood. When  humus,  or  decomposed  organic  matter 
— manure  for  instance — is  mixed  with  silica,  that  is 
added  to  a  common  sand  heap,  there  is  an  immediate 
decomposition  of  the  silicate  of  potash,  which  we  have 
said  is  a  neutral  salt,  and  it  becomes  an  active  salt  of 
potash  which  dissolves  the  humus,  or  organic  matter 
and  fits  it  for  plant  food.  So  the  same  process  goes  on 
with  the  other  silicates  as  the  various  plants  growing 
in  the  soil  may  demand  for  their  nourishment.  They  are 
converted  into  active  salts,  which  are  capable  of  dig- 


18  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

solving  organic  matter,  whereas,  as  neutral,  inactive 
salts  or  silicates,  they  are  powerless  to  act. 

Were  it  not  for  these  silicates,  the  various  active 
salts  and  acids  would  lose  their  virtue,  but  as  it  hap- 
pens, the  silicates  hold  them  in  a  firm  grip,  intact,  un- 
til the  action  of  plant  life  demanding  food,  sets  them 
free  to  aid  in  preparing  plant  food. 

The  base,  or  fixed  element  of  the  earth  called  silex, 
or  silica — keep  in  mind  a  sand  heap  and  it  will  be  easy 
to  remember — is  "silicon^"  It  is  pure  rock  crystal, 
common  quartz,  agate,  calcedony  and  cornelian.  All 
these  are  silicon  acidified  by  oxygen,  and  hence  called 
silicic  acid.  It  is  this  which  forms,  with  potash,  the 
hard  coat  of  the  polishing  rush,  the  outer  covering  of 
the  stalks  of  grasses.  It  is  the  stiff  backbone  of  corn- 
stalks which  stand  sturdily  against  the  blast.  Wheat, 
rye,  oats,  barley,  owe  their  support  to  this  silica,  and 
where  grain  is  said  to  "lodge"  during  a  heavy  storm,  the 
trouble  may  be  traced  to  a  deficiency  of  silica  in  the  soil. 
It  cases  the  bamboo  and  the  rattan  with  an  armor  of 
flint  so  hard  that  from  it  sparks  may  be  struck.  Enter- 
ing into  the  composition  of  all  soil,  and  hard  and  un- 
yielding as  it  appears,  forming  not  only  the  solid  rock, 
but  the  delicate  flower,  combining  with  the  metals  of 
soil  whose  gradual  decomposition  is  the  birth  of  fer- 
tility, silica,  or  the  sand  heap,  may  well  be  likened  to 
the  bony  structure  or  framework  of  the  animal. 

The  next  chapter  on  particular  soils  will  give  more 
in  detail,  the  component  elements  which  enter  into  their 
composition,  and  present  a  series  of  tabulated  analyses 
showing  proportions  favorable  to  the  growth  of  various 
products. 


CHAPTER  II. 

PARTICULAR   SOILS,    AND   THEIR   ADAPTATION   TO 
VARIETIES  OF  PLANTS. 

Although  this  book  is  intended  to  apply  exclusively 
to  irrigation,  that  is,  the  artificial  application  of  water 
to  lands  deprived  of  a  sufficient  rain  fall  to  raise  a  crop, 
such  as  the  arid  and  semi-arid  lands,  which  constitute  so 
vast  a  portion  of  our  western  country,  yet,  as  all  arable 
or  fertile  soils  in  whatever  part  of  the  world  they  may 
be,  must  contain  certain  elements  necessary  to  plant  life, 
an  inquiry  into  the  specific  nature  of  soils  will  supply 
whatever  information  may  be  needed  to  till  irrig- 
able lands,  as  successfully  as  those  where  a  rain  fall 
may  be  depended  upon  to  raise  a  crop.  It  is  even  pos- 
sible that  such  information  may  be  of  greater  practical 
value,  because  the  elements  in  the  soil  and  the  crop  itself, 
are  under  better  control  and  management  when  the 
ncessary  water  is  in  an  irrigating  ditch,  than  when  it  is 
in  a  cloud  beyond  control. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  very  little  difference  in 
soils  as  such,  wherever  they  may  exist.  All  of  them  are 
capable  of  producing  some  variety  of  plant  life,  unless 
absolutely  barren  on  account  of  the  absence  of  plant 
food,  as  the  Desert  of  Sahara,  for  instance,  or  by  reason 
of  an  excess  of  the  elements  essential  to  plant  life,  as 
our  so-called  "alkali  lands."  But,  when  it  comes  to  the 
comparative  quantities  of  organic  and  inorganic  ele- 
ments to  be  found  in  all  soils,  there  is  a  vast  difference, 
particularly  when  crops  of  a  certain  kind  are  to  be  suc- 
cessfully raised. 

It  was  stated  in  the  last  chapter  that  soil  consists  of 
inorganic  and  organic  elements.  The  inorganic  ma- 
terial being  decomposed  rocks  and  minerals ;  to  be  more 
precise,  such  as  were  never  endowed  with  life,  and  the 
organic  material  consisting  of  decomposed  vegetable 
matter,  which  once  possessed  some  form  of  life,  both  of 

17 


18  The  Primtr  of  Irrigation. 

which  elements  are  absolutely  necessary  to  grow  any 
kind  of  plant. 

A  little  experiment,  which  any  one  can  perform, 
will  make  this  clear  to  the  reader.  When  any  veget- 
able substance  is  heated  to  redness  in  the  open  air,  no 
matter  whether  it  be  a  peach  or  a  potato,  a  strawberry  or 
a  squash,  a  handful  of  straw  or  a  beautiful  rose,  the 
whole  of  the  so-called  organic  elements,  which  are  car- 
bon, hydrogen,  oxygen,  and  nitrogen,  are  burned  away 
and  disappear,  but  there  remains  behind  an  "ash"  com- 
posed of  potash,  soda,  lime,  magnesia,  iron,  etc.,  which 
does  not  burn,  and  which,  in  most  cases,  does  not  under- 
go any  diminution  when  exposed  to  a  much  greater  heat. 
It  is  this  "ash"  which  constitutes  the  inorganic  portion 
of  plants. 

The  predominance  of  certain  of  these  substances, 
which,  it  was  stated  in  the  last  chapter,  are  absorbed 
from  the  soil  by  the  operation  of  plant  life,  is  what  en- 
ables agriculturists  to  give  certain  names  to  various 
kinds  of  soils,  which  names,  however,  are  of  very  little 
practical  importance,  except  to  enable  a  farmer  to  specify 
which  of  them  are  best  adapted  to  the  varieties  of  plants 
he  desires  to  raise. 

So  far  as  these  inorganic  substances  are  concerned, 
they  must  exist  in  the  soil  in  such  quantities  as  easily  to 
yield  to  the  plant,  so  much  of  each  one  as  the  kind  of 
plant  specifically  requires.  If  they  be  rare,  the  plant 
sickens  and  dies  just  the  same  as  does  an  animal  when 
deprived  of  its  necessary  food.  The  same  thing  will 
happen  if  the  organic  food  supplied  the  plant  by  the 
vegetable  matter  in  the  soil  be  wholly  withdrawn.  It 
should  be  noted,  however,  that  a  plant  will  sometimes 
substitute  one  inorganic  element  for  another,  if  it  does 
not  find  exactly  what  it  requires,  as  soda  for  potash,  the 
tendency  of  every  plant  being  to  grow  to  perfection  if  it 
possibly  can  do  so.  This  matter  will  be  treated  at  length 
in  the  chapter  on  "Plant  Foods." 


Particular  Soils. 


19 


The  following  table  of  the  essential  inorganic  ele- 
ments found  in  soils  will  prove  useful  and  well  worth 
study.  The  first  column  gives  the  scientific,  technical 
name  of  the  elementary  bodies;  the  second  column  the 
elements  or  substances  they  combine  with,  and  the  third 
column  contains  the  result  of  the  combinations,  that  is, 
the  various  substances  ready  to  form  salts  which  enter 
into  the  life  of  the  plant. 


ELEMENTARY  BODY 
Chlorine. 
Iodine 
Sulphur 
Sulphur 
Sulphur 
Phosphorus 
Potassium 
Potassium 
Sodium 
Sodium 

Calcium 

Calcium 

Magnesium 

Aluminum 

Silicon 

Iron  and     ) 

Manganese ) 


COMBINES  WITH  FORMING 

Metals  Chlorides. 

Metals  Iodides. 

Metals  Sulphurets. 

Hydrogen  Sulphuretted  Hydrogen. 

Oxygen  Sulphuric  Acid. 

Oxygen  Phosphoric  Acid. 

Oxygen  Potash. 

Chlorine  Chloride    of    Potassium. 

Oxygen  Soda. 

Chlorine  Chloride  of  Sodium,  or 

Common  salt. 

Chlorine  Chloride  of  Calcium. 

Oxygen  Lime. 

Oxygen  Magnesia. 

Oxygen  Alumina. 

Oxygen  Silica. 

Oxygen  (  Oxides. 

Sulphur  J  Sulph'ir*ts. 


All  the  above  elementary  substances,  except  sul- 
phur, exist  only  in  a  state  of  combination  with  other  sub- 
stances, principally  oxygen,  and  are  found  only  in  the 
soil,  in  no  combination  are  they  generally  diffused 
through  the  atmosphere,  so  as  to  be  capable  of  entering 
into  the  life  of  the  plant  through  the  leaves,  or  those 
portions  above  the  ground.  Hence,  they  must  be  taken 
up  by  the  roots  of  plants,  for  which  reason  they  are  said 
to  be  the  necessary  constituents  of  a  soil  in  which  plants 
are  expected  to  grow. 

The  enormous  quantity  of  inorganic  matter  in  soil 
may  be  estimated  by  a  simple  calculation.  Out  of  five 
hundred  samples  of  soil  gathered  from  different  parts 


20  The  Primtr  of  Irrigation. 

of  the  world,  the  average  weight  of  a  cubic  foot,  wet, 
has  been  found  to  be  126.6  pounds.  Now,  let  us  ascer- 
tain how  many  pounds  of  mineral,  or  metallic  salts  exist 
in  an  acre  of  soil,  say  eight  inches  deep,  the  usual  tilled 
depth,  or  surface  soil;  of  the  subsoil,  we  shall  speak 
later  on.  We  shall  give  the  chemical  analysis  of  an  ordi- 
nary alluvial,  or  river  bottom  soil,  such  as  is  common  in 
the  western  lands.  The  first  column  gives  the  name  of 
the  mineral,  and  the  figures  in  the  second  column  the 
parts  of  the  mineral  in  an  agreed  one  hundred  parts, 
and  the  third  column  the  weight  of  each  substance  in 
the  surface  soil  eight  inches  deep : 

Elementary  bodies  and  their  combinations  Percentage    Weight  in  pounds 

Silica  and  fine  sand   87.143  3,203,7814- 

Alumina   5.666  208,308— 

Oxides  of  Iron   2.220  81,6174- 

Oxide  of  Magnesia  0.360  13,235-  - 

Lime    0.564  20,735-  - 

Magnesia    0.312  IM7°- - 

Potash    combined  with   Silica 0.120  4,411— 

Soda  combined   with  Silica   0.025  QiQ-f- 

Phosphoric  Acid  combined  with  Lime 

and  Oxide  of  Iron 0.060  2,205-  - 

Sulphuric  Acid  in  Gypsum  0.027  992 — 

Chlorine  in  common   Salt    0.036  1,323 — 

Carbonic  Acid  united  to  the  Lime 0.080  2,041-- 

Humic  Acid  1.304  47,041— 

Insoluble    Humus    1.072  39,4114- 

Organic   substances   containing   Nitro- 
gen      1.011  37,i694- 

Total  Inorganic  and  Organic  sub- 
stances     100.  3,676,464 

It  should  be  remembered  that  these  immense  quan- 
tities are  contained  in  only  eight  inches  of  top  soil,  and 
that  twelve  inches,  or  one  foot  of  soil,  which  is  about 
the  depth  before  reaching  the  subsoil,  would  contain 
a  total  of  inorganic  and  organic  matter  equal  to  5,514,- 
696  pounds,  or  2,757  and  one-third  tons. 


Particular  Soils.  21 

The  calculation  is  made  by  multiplying  43,560,  the 
number  of  square  feet  in  an  acre,  by  126.6.  pounds,  the 
estimated  average  weight  of  one  cubic  foot  of  wet  soil, 
which  gives  the  weight  of  one  acre  twelve  inches  deep. 
Then  dividing  by  twelve,  we  get  the  weight  of  an  acre 
one  inch  deep.  To  ascertain  the  weight  of  eight  inches, 
we  have  only  to  multiply  by  eight  inches,  and  again  mul- 
tiply by  the  number  of  parts  of  any  organic  or  inorganic 
matter  to  ascertain  the  exact  weight  of  that  particular 
matter  in  the  acre,  thus : 

43,560x126.6=5,514,696  pounds  per  acre  one  foot  deep. 

5,514,696-^-12=459,558  pounds  per  acre  one  inch  deep. 

459,558x0. 120=55 I- 4696(3  pounds  of  Potash  in  one  inch 
acre. 

551.46960x8=4,411  pounds  of  Potash  in  acre  eight  inches 
deep. 

Five  right  hand  figures  must  be  cut  off,  three  for 
the  decimal  places  and  two  more  because  the  calculation 
is  based  on  a  percentage  of  one  hundred  parts. 

The  average  weight  of  a  cubic  foot  of  dry  soil,  ac- 
cording to  the  foregoing  estimate,  based  upon  the  tests 
taken  in  the  cases  of  five  hundred  soils  collected  from 
various  places  on  the  globe,  is  94.58  pounds,  which  will 
make  the  dry  soil  acre  eight  inches  deep  weigh  2,715,792 
pounds,  a  difference  in  weight  between  wet  and  dry  soils 
of  960,672  pounds  per  acre  eight  inches  deep,  which, 
of  course,  represents  the  weight  of  water. 

This  information  will  prove  of  value  in  considering 
the  question  of  applying  water  to  the  soil.  As  a  rule, 
the  proportions  of  inorganic  and  organic  matter  remain 
about  the  same;  except  that  the  application  of  water  by 
irrigation  adds  to  the  quantity  in  soluble  matter  car- 
ried to  the  soil,  which  is  greater  in  the  case  of  irrigation 
than  when  rain  is  depended  upon2  humus  and  salta  in 
solution  being  carried  in  the  ditch  water. 


22  Tht  Primtr  of  Irrigation. 

ORGANIC  MATTER  IN  THE  SOIL. 

By  referring  back  to  the  test  table  of  a  specimen 
soil,  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  first  twelve  substances 
are  "inorganic,"  and  the  three  last  "organic/'  It  will 
also  be  noticed  that  the  proportion  of  inorganic  matter 
is  vastly  greater  than  that  of  the  organic.  It  is  necessary 
that  this  should  be  so,  for  the  organic  matter  is  the 
"active"  principle,  the  dynamic  force,  and  the  inorganic 
matter  the  "passive"  principle.  If  the  proportions  were 
reversed,  the  inorganic  matter  would  react  upon  and 
destroy  itself,  and  as  it  could  not  be  replaced  very  well, 
there  would  soon  be  an  end  to  the  growth  of  plants. 
Hence,  nature  provides  a  store-house  of  raw  material,  so 
to  speak,  to  be  utilized  in  the  manufacture  of  plant  food, 
and  it  is  practically  inexhaustible,  the  subsoil,  for  an  un- 
limited depth,  containing  all  the  ingredients  necessary  to 
restore  the  top  soil  should  it  become  jaded  and  unre- 
sponsive to  the  demands  of  cultivation  and  fertility,  if 
the  farmer  will  take  the  trouble  to  dig  down  after  them 
and  bring  them  to  the  surface. 

Moreover,  the  inorganic  elements  in  the  soil  are 
permanent.  They  are  insoluble  except  when  acted  upon 
by  the  acids  formed  through  the  chemical  action  of  the 
organic  matter,  and  the  vital  force  exercised  by  the 
growing  plant. 

In  the  table  of  specimen  soil,  given  on  another  page, 
the  percentage  of  inorganic  matter  passes  95  per 
centum,  while  the  organic  matter  is  about  three  and 
one-half  per  cent.  Yet  that  particular  soil  is  a  fertile 
one,  in  which  it  is  possible  to  produce  a  good  crop  of 
any  kind  of  plant.  It  is  only  an  analysis,  it  is  true,  and 
a  chemical  analysis  is  not  always  to  be  depended  upon, 
because  there  are  so  many  unknown  and  mysterious  ap- 
plications of  the  laws  of  nature,  but  there  are  many 
things  to  be  said  in  favor  of  ascertaining  what  ingredi- 
ents the  soil  does  contain,  approximately,  if  not  with 
rigorous  exactitude.  It  gives  the  practical  farmer  valu- 


able  information  in  the  form  of  suggestions  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  soil.  It  enables  him  to  remedy  the 
defects  in  his  land  by  the  application  of  substances  it 
needs,  and,  what  is  equally  of  value,  it  enables  him  to 
avoid  adding  to  the  soil  what  he  knows  it  already  con- 
tains, and  will  put  him  upon  the  search  for  substances 
it  does  need.  Moreover,  an  analysis  will  indicate  to  the 
farmer  whether  a  certain  soil  is  capable  or  not  of  pro- 
ducing a  good,  profitable  crop  of  certain  plants,  and 
save  him  from  losing  his  time,  labor,  and  money  by 
planting  a  crop  which  can  not  grow  to  perfection  be- 
cause of  some  defect  in  plant  food  necessary  to  plant  life. 
In  other  words,  the  farmer  will  know  what  to  do  with 
his  land  without  guessing,  or  trying  expensive  experi- 
ments. This  is  not  "Book  farming,"  it  is  common 
sense. 

The  reader  has  already  discovered  that  the  inorganic 
elements  consist  of  decomposed  rocks  and  minerals, 
which  have  assumed  a  variety  of  forms  by  combining 
with  one  another,  and  now  he  has  reached  a  point  which 
is  the  foundation  of  plant  life,  being  that  other  essential 
in  all  soils,  the  organic  elements,  which  must  exist  in  a 
greater  or  less  proportion.  This  organic  matter  con- 
sists of  decayed  animal  and  vegetable  substances,  some- 
times in  brown  or  black  fibrous  particles,  many  of  which, 
on  close  examination,  show  something  of  the  original 
structure  of  the  objects  from  which  they  have  been  de- 
rived; sometimes  forming  only  a  brown  powder  inter- 
mixed with  the  mineral  matters  of  the  soil,  sometimes 
entirely  void  of  color  and  soluble  in  water.  In  soils 
which  appear  to  consist  of  pure  sand,  clay,  or  chalk,  or- 
ganic matter  in  this  latter  form  may  often  be  detected 
in  considerable  quantities. 

In  the  table  already  given,  the  percentage  of  Humic 
acid,  Insoluble  Humus,  and  organic  substances  contain- 
ing Nitrogen,  is  given  as  3.387  per  centum,  a  very  small 
quantity  apparently,  but  really  amounting  to  124,521 


SM  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

pounds  or  6254  tons,  in  a  top  layer  of  soil  eight  inches 
deep,  covering  one  acre  of  land.  A  quantity  sufficient 
to  supply  crops  with  essential  matter  for  plant  food  dur- 
ing many  years  without  manuring. 

This  vegetable  matter  is  the  result  of  vegetable  de- 
composition, a  decay  which  means  fermentation  ending 
in  putrefaction,  a  purely  chemical  process.  Whence  it 
is  said :  Growth  is  a  living  process ;  death,  or  decay,  a 
chemical  process.  Putrefaction  is  the  silent  and  on- 
ward march  of  decay,  its  goal  being  humic  acid,  which 
in  its  turn  produces  life.  The  saying  of  that  great  physi- 
cian of  the  past  centuries,  Paracelsus,  may  be  aptly 
quoted  here:  "Putrefaction  is  the  first  step  to  life." 
Everything  travels  in  a  circle  in  the  vegetable  as  well 
as  in  the  animal  kingdom:  The  egg,  or  germ  must 
first  putrefy  to  produce  an  animal,  and  the  seed,  or  plant 
germ,  must  first  putrefy  before  there  can  be  any  living 
plant. 

It  has  been  said  that  various  names  have  been  given 
soils,  according  to  the  predominating  mineral  of  which 
they  are  composed,  but  in  reality,  there  are  only  three 
great  varieties  of  soil:  sand,  clay  and  loam,  the  latter 
being  a  mixture  of  granite  sand  and  clay.  The  great 
distinctions  in  the  scale  of  soils,  may  be  said  to  be  sand 
and  clay,  all  other  varieties  proceeding  from  mixtures 
of  these  with  each  other.  Now,  the  sand  may  be  silice- 
ous, or  calcareous,  that  is,  composed  of  silicates  or  lime. 
By  clay  is  meant  the  common  clay  abounding  every- 
where, and  composed  of  about  thirty-six  parts  of  Alum- 
ina, 68  parts  of  Silica,  Oxide  of  Iron,  and  Salts  of  Lime, 
and  Alkalies,  6  parts.  A  sandy  clay  soil  is  clay  and 
sand,  equal  parts;  clay  loam  is  three  fourths  clay  and 
one  fourth  sand;  peat  soil  is  nearly  all  humus,  whicli 
we  have  seen  is  vegetable  matter  decomposed,  decayed 
or  putrefied;  garden,  or  vegetable  mold  is  eight  per 
cent  humus,  the  rest  being  silica,  and  the  other  mineral 
substances ;  arable  land  is  three  per  cent  humus.  There 


Particular  Soils.  25 

are,  in  addition  to  these  varieties  of  soil,  several  special 
varieties  which  are  fortunately  not  general,  and  there- 
fore, need  not  be  more  than  referred  to.  They  are  those 
peculiar  conditions  found  in  the  "black  waxy,"  "bad 
lands,"  "hard  pan,"  upon  which,  nothing  short  of  dyna- 
mite will  make  any  impression  so  far  as  discovered,  and 
the  "tules,"  which  are  common  to  California,  but  are 
extraordinarily  fertile  when  reclaimed,  being  similar  to 
peat  bogs  without  the  disadvantages  of  the  latter,  and 
that  are  known  as  "swamp"  or  "marsh  lands."  When 
it  comes  to  "desert  lands"  in  the  sense  of  the  Acts  of 
Congress,  they  lack  only  water  to  make  them  as  fertile 
as  any  lands  in  the  world.  They  will  be  treated  in  the 
chapter  on  Arid  and  Semi-Arid  Lands. 

Aside  from  the  chemical  composition  of  soils,  what 
equally  concerns  the  farmer  is  their  physical  charac- 
teristics. These  may  be  enumerated  under  the  terms 
cold,  hot,  wet  and  dry  land.  And  these  are  dependent 
upon  weight,  color,  consistency,  and  power  to  retain 
water.  The  relation  of  the  soil  to  consistency  makes 
it  light  or  heavy;  its  relation  to  heat  and  moisture 
makes  it  hot  or  cold,  dry  or  wet. 

Taking  the  varieties  already  specified,  sand  is  al- 
ways the  heaviest  part  of  soil,  whether  dry  or  wet;  clay 
is  among  the  lightest  parts,  though  humus  has  the  least 
absolute  weight.  To  calculate  more  closely:  a  cubic 
foot  of  sand  weighs,  in  a  common  damp  state,  141 
pounds  ;  clay  weighs  115  pounds,  and  humus,  81 
pounds,  and  garden  or  vegetable  mould  and  arable  soil 
weigh  from  102  to  119  pounds.  The  more  humus  com- 
pound soil  contains,  the  lighter  it  is. 

The  power  of  a  soil  to  retain  heat  is  nearly  in  pro- 
portion to  the  absolute  weight.  The  greater  the  mass 
in  a  given  bulk,  the  greater  is  this  power.  Hence, 
sand  retains  heat  longest,  three  times  longer  than 
humus,  and  half  as  long  again  as  clay.  This  is  the 
reason  for  the  dryness  and  heat  of  sandy  plains.  Sand, 


iG  The  Primer  *f  Irrigation. 

clay  and  peat  are  to  each  other  as  1,  2,  3  in  their  power 
of  retaining  heat. 

But  while  the  capacity  of  soil  to  retain  heat  de- 
pends on  the  absolute  weight,  the  power  to  be  warmed, 
which  is  a  very  important  physical  characteristic,  de- 
pends upon  four  circumstances:  color,  dampness,  mat- 
erials, and  fourth  the  angle  at  which  the  sun's  rays  fall 
upon  it. 

The  blacker  the  color,  the  easier  warmed.  In  this 
respect,  white  sand  and  gray  differ  almost  fifty  per  cent 
in  the  degree  of  heat  acquired  in  a  given  time.  As 
peat  and  humus  are  of  a  black,  or  dark  brown  color, 
they  easily  become  warm  soils  when  dry,  for  secondly, 
dampness  modifies  the  influence  of  color,  so  that  a  dry, 
light-colored  soil  will  become  hotter  sooner  than  a  dark 
wet  one.  As  long  as  evaporation  goes  on,  a  difference 
of  ten  or  twelve  degrees  will  be  found  between  a  dry 
and  a  wet  soil  of  the  same  color.  Thirdly,  the  differ- 
ent materials  of  which  soils  are  composed  exert  but  very 
little  influence  on  their  power  of  being  heated  by  the 
sun's  rays.  Indeed,  if  sand,  clay,  peat,  garden  mould, 
all  equally  dry,  are  sprinkled  with  chalk,  making  their 
surfaces  all  of  a  color,  and  then  exposed  to  the  sun's 
rays,  the  difference  in  their  temperature  will  be  found 
to  be  inconsiderable. 

Fourthly,  the  angle  at  which  the  sun's  rays  fall  on 
the  land,  has  much  1  do  with  its  heat.  The  more 
perpendicular  the  rays,  the  greater  the  heat.  The  effect 
is  less  in  proportion  as  these  rays,  by  falling  more  slant- 
ing, spread  their  light  out  over  a  greater  surface.  This 
point  is  so  well  understood  that  it  is  not  necessary  to 
dwell  any  longer  upon  it,  further  than  to  add,  that  there 
are  localities  where  every  degree  of  heat  diminishes  the 
prospect  of  a  good  crop,  particularly  in  hot  regions, 
and  the  circumstance  should  be  taken  advantage  of  to 
obviate  the  danger  of  loss.  A  northern  exposure  or 
an  eastern  exposure,  or  a  crop  on  a  slope  may  sometimes 


Particular  Soils.  27 

realize  more  benefit  than  if  this  knowledge  were  dis- 
regarded. 

The  relation  of  eoil  to  moisture  and  gas,  particul- 
arly moisture,  is  of  great  importance  in  the  case  of 
irrigation.  All  soil,  except  pure  siliceous  sand,  absorbs 
moisture,  but  in  different  degrees.  Humus  possesses 
the  greatest  powers  of  absorption,  and  no  variety  of 
humus  equals  in  its  absorptive  power,  that  from  animal 
manure,  except  those  heavily  charged  arid  and  semi- 
arid  lands,  in  which  fibrous  roots  and  vegetable  matter 
form  a  large  part  of  the  elements  they  contain.  The 
others  rank  in  the  following  order :  Garden  mould,  clay, 
loam,  sandy  clay,  arable  soil.  They  all  become  satur- 
ated with  moisture  by  a  few  days'  exposure. 

It  is  a  very  interesting  question :  Does  soil  give  up 
this  absorbed  water  speedily  and  equally  ?  Is  its  power 
of  retaining  water  equal?  There  is  no  more  important 
question  to  the  irrigator.  As  a  general  fact,  it  may 
be  stated,  that  the  soil  which  absorbs  fastest  and  most, 
evaporates  slowest  and  least.  Humus  evaporates  least 
in  a  given  time.  The  power  of  evaporation  is  modified 
by  the  consistency  of  the  soil;  by  a  different  degree  of 
looseness  and  compactness  of  soil.  Garden  mould,  for 
instance,  dries  faster  than  clay.  As  it  has  already  been 
shown,  that  the  power  of  being  warmed  is  much  modi- 
fied by  moisture,  so  the  power  of  a  soil  to  retain  water 
makes  the  distinction  of  a  hot  or  cold,  wet  or  dry  soil. 

Connected  with  this  power  of  absorbing  moisture, 
is  the  very  important  relation  of  soil  to  gas.  All  soils 
absorb  oxygen  gas  when  damp,  never  when  dry. 
Humus  has  this  power  in  the  highest  degree,  however, 
whether  it  be  wet  or  dry.  Clay  comes  next,  frozen 
earths  not  at  all.  A  moderate  temperature  increases 
the  absorption.  Here  are  the  consequences  of  this  ab- 
sorptive power. 

When  earths  absorb  oxygen,  they  give  it  up  un- 
changed. But  when  humus  absorbs  oxygen,  one  por- 


88  Th*  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

tion  of  that  combines  with  its  carbon,  producing  car- 
bonic acid,  which  decomposes  silicates,  and  a  second 
portion  of  the  oxygen  combines  with  the  hydrogen  of 
the  humus  and  produces  water.  Hence,  in  a  dry 
season  well  manured  soils,  or  those  abounding  in  humus, 
suffer  very  little. 

The  evaporation  from  an  acre  of  fresh-ploughed 
land  is  equal  to  950  pounds  per  hour;  this  is  the  great- 
est for  the  first  and  second  days,  ceases  about  the  fifth 
day,  and  begins  again  by  hoeing,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  the  unbroken  ground  affords  no  trace  of  moisture. 
This  evaporation  is  equal  to  that  which  follows  after 
copious  rains.  These  are  highly  practical  facts,  and 
teach  the  necessity  of  frequent  stirring  of  the  soil  in 
the  dry  season.  Where  manure  or  humus  is  lying  in 
the  soil,  the  evaporation  from  an  acre  equals  5,000 
pounds  per  hour.  At  2,000  pounds  of  water  per  hour, 
the  evaporation  would  amount  in  92  days,  that  is,  a 
growing  season,  to  2,208,000  pounds,  an  enormous 
quantity  of  water,  too  much  to  be  permitted,  however 
beneficial  that  evaporation  may  be.  It  is  true  that  this 
evaporation  is  charged  with  carbonic  acid,  and  acts  on 
the  silicates,  eliminates  alkalies,  waters  and  feeds 
plants,  but  where  irrigation  is  practiced,  the  evapora- 
tion is  carried  on  with  as  good  an  effect  beneath  a  mulch 
of  finely  pulverized  soil  through  which  it  penetrates,  if 
the  land  is  properly  prepared  for  and  tilled  after  the 
application  of  water.  This  is  a  subject  which  demands 
careful  study,  so  that  the  laws  of  nature  may  be  as 
rigorously  enforced  when  man  takes  them  under  his  con- 
trol, otherwise,  there  will  always  be  failure.  How  to 
enforce  those  laws  without  doing  violence  to  the  prin- 
ciples which  underlie  them,  is  matter  which  will  be 
fully  treated  in  future  chapters. 

In  concluding  this  chapter,  it  is  deemed  proper  to 
call  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  this  maxim  which 
should  never  be  forgotten:  It  is  not  the  plants  grown 


Particular  Soils.  19 

in  a  soil  that  exhaust  it,  but  those  removed  from  it. 
It  is  an  undeniable  fact,  that  the  growth  of  plants  in 
any  soil  is  beneficial,  inasmuch  as  it  brings  into  play 
the  forces  of  nature  which  are  in  constant  motion  to- 
ward increase  through  fertility.  For  ages,  the  great 
prairies  of  the  West,  and  also  the  so-called  "arid,  and 
semi-arid"  lands  have  been  storing  up  humus  which 
now  needs  but  the  application  of  water  to  convert  them 
into  lands  that  will  laugh  with  rich  harvests.  Plant 
life  has,  for  centuries,  sprung  into  existence,  reached 
maturity,  and  decayed,  going  back  into  the  soil,  with  no 
hand  to  remove  it.  The  consequence  is,  all  these  lands 
are  rich  in  salts  and  humus,  and  it  is  left  for  the  man 
with  the  ditch  to  add  moisture,  open  the  soil  and  admit 
oxygen  to  the  seeds  he  plants,  so  that  they  shall  be  fed 
up  to  perfection  and  enable  him  to  reap  a  glorious  har- 
vest. 

The  laws  of  nature  are  the  same  in  this  regard  as  to 
the  man  who  looks  to  the  heavens  for  his  inconstant 
rainfall.  There  is  for  him  to  consider  in  the  lands  un- 
der ditch,  that  all  soil  has  four  important  functions  to 
perform,  which  are: 

First. — It  upholds  the  plant,  affording  it  a  sure 
and  safe  anchorage. 

Second. — It  absorbs  water,  air  and  heat  to  promote 
its  growth.  These  are  the  mechanical  and  physical  func- 
tions of  the  soil. 

Third. — It  contains  and  supplies  to  the  plant  both 
organic  and  inorganic  food  as  its  wants  require ;  and 

Fourth. — It  is  a  workshop  in  which,  by  the  aid  of 
air  and  moisture,  chemical  changes  are  continually  going 
on;  by  which  changes  these  several  kinds  of  foods  are 
prepared  for  admission  into  the  living  roots. 

These  are  its  chemical  functions.  They  all  are  the 
law  and  the  gospel  of  agriculture,  and  all  the  operations 
of  the  farmer  are  intended  to  aid  the  soil  in  the  per- 
formance of  one  or  the  other  of  these  functions. 


CHAPTER  III. 
SEMI-ARID  AND  ARID  LANDS — THEIR  ORIGIN  AND  PE- 

4, 

CULIARITIES. 

From  a  general  chemical  point  of  view  there  is 
very  little  difference  between  the  soils  elsewhere  on 
the  surface  of  the  globe,  and  those  in  the  vast  empire 
in  the  United  States  west  of  the  100th  meridian.  The 
soil  possesses  the  identical  organic  elements  already  spe- 
cified in  the  table  given  in  the  second  chapter ;  the  same 
organic  substances  abound;  the  processes  of  plant  life 
are  similar,  and  the  same  plant  foods  are  essential 
to  the  welfare  of  crops.  Still,  there  is  a  difference  ap- 
parent to  every  man  who  thrusts  a  spade  into  the 
ground,  plants  a  seed,  and  attempts  to  coax  the  soil 
to  produce  a  harvest. 

A  bird's  eye  view  of  the  entire  region  impresses 
the  observer  with  the  appalling  sense  of  a  vast,  barren 
desert,  a  few  oases,  here  and  there,  where  widely  sepa- 
rated streams  and  springs  exist,  but  in  the  main  it 
is  an  illimitable  ocean,  a  desolate  plain,  with  occasional 
straggling  clumps  of  scant  coarse  grass,  sage  brush, 
artemisia,  chemisal,  greasewood,  scrub  oak,  cactus  and 
other  sparse  vegetation,  kept  alive  by  the  scant  snows 
of  winter  followed  by  dreary,  hot,  rainless  summers,  or 
by  inadequate  winter  rains  succeeded  by  a  tropical  dry 
season.  This  is  the  general  aspect  of  the  semi-arid 
lands. 

Beyond  them,  except  in  the  North,  there  is  no  win- 
ter, no  seasons,  nothing  but  a  pitiless  cloudless  sky, 
tropical  heat,  unmitigated  by  moisture,  with  an  atmos- 
phere so  dry  and  desiccating  that  animal  matter  exposed 
to  its  oxygen  dries,  or  oxidizes  and  becomes  reduced  to 
an  odorless  powder,  the  toughest  substance  soon  pre- 
senting the  appearance  of  a  moth-eaten  garment.  This 
is  the  aspect  of  the  arid  lands.  Some  say  there  are 
a  hundred  millions  of  acres  of  both  kinds  of  land  west 
of  the  100th  degree  of  longitude,  others  claim  a  hundred 

so 


Semi- A  rid  and  A  rid  Lands.  SI 

and  fifty  millions  of  acres,  but  the  author  suspects  a 
still  greater  measurement. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  discouraging  features, 
there  is  no  land  in  the  world  that  possesses  greater  fer- 
tility, greater  capacity  for  plant  growth,  and  that  will 
so  amply  and  so  richly  repay  the  labor  of  him  who 
puts  his  hand  to  the  plow  and  blinds  his  eyes  to  the 
hideous  scenic  features,  until  he  has  created  an  oasis 
of  his  own,  in  the  midst  of  which  he  may  sit  in  peace, 
plenty  and  content,  beneath  his  own  vine  and  fig  tree, 
in  a  cooling  breeze,  sipping  the  pure  cold  water  from 
his  own  olla  hanging  in  the  shade,  while  over,  beyond 
him,  sizzling  in  the  hot  sands  of  the  so-called  desert, 
eggs  may  poach  in  the  intense  heat,  and  not  even  an 
insect  find  energy  enough  to  emit  a  single  buzz. 

By  and  by,  a  neighbor  comes,  sees  the  oasis  and 
the  near  by  sands,  wonders  if  he  can  accomplish  as 
much,  tries  it,  and  is  surprised  to  find  how  easily  it 
is  done.  Then  comes  another  neighbor,  and  another, 
and  still  more,  who  push  the  desert  farther  off,  until 
there  is  no  desert  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  nothing 
visible  but  rich  harvests,  fat  kine,  and  plenty.  The 
very  atmosphere  has  changed;  the  rainfall  is  slightly 
increased,  where  rain  and  moisture  had  been  strangers 
from  a  time  far  beyond  the  memory  of  man,  the  dews 
of  heaven  begin  to  fall  and  restore  to  the  parched  soil 
a  portion  of  the  moisture  stolen  from  it  by  the  greedy 
sun.  It  is  a  desert  reclaimed,  semi-arid  and  arid  lands 
wrenched  from  the  grasp  of  ages  of  barrenness  and  in 
the  struggle  forced  to  perspire  plenty,  comfort,  and 
wealth.  Is  the  picture  overdrawn  ?  The  reader  has  but 
to  look  around  to  perceive  the  truth  of  it;  it  is  a  mov- 
ing picture  constantly  before  the  eyes  of  him  who  turns 
them  in  the  right  direction. 

There  are  men  still  living  who  remember  when  all 
that  vast  domain  was  considered  as  a  desert,  and  indi- 
cated on  the  maps  of  long  ago,  as  "The  Great  American 
Desert/'  even  the  Government  regarding  it  as  a  desert 


32  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

not  worth  offering  the  public,  or  so  poor  and  worthless 
as  not  to  be  worthy  of  protecting  against  marauders. 

It  has  been  said  that  from  a  general  chemical 
standpoint,  there  is  no  difference  in  the  soil  which 
offers  so  mournful  and  dreary  a  prospect  as  our  semi- 
arid  and  arid  lands,  and  that  found  anywhere  else  on 
the  globe.  In  their  physical  characteristics,  however,  a 
vast  difference  is  presented  to  the  eye,  but  that  differ- 
ence is  not  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  desert,  for  when 
we  come  to  investigate,  even  carelessly,  we  discover  a 
greater  richness  of  inorganic  and  organic  matter  than 
in  any  other  region  on  the  earth.  For  ages  the  land 
has  been  exposed  to  the  lixiviating  action  of  rain  water, 
in  greater  or  less  quantities — for  it  must  be  taken  as 
true  that  at  some  period  in  the  misty  past  all  these 
lands  were  exposed  to  the  wash  of  rains — without  los- 
ing their  fertility.  As  year  after  year  and  age  after 
age  rolled  away,  greater  or  less  vegetation  grew  to  ma- 
turity, and,  unharvested,  returned  back  into  the  soil  to 
further  enrich  it,  and  hence  it  became  richer  and  richer, 
for  it  must  be  remembered,  that  the  fertility  of  the 
ground  is  not  diminished  by  plants  growing  therein; 
it  is  not  until  they  are  removed  from  the  ground  that 
the  soil  gradually  loses  its  fertility.  Neither  was  there 
any  impairment  by  their  utilization  as  pasture  grounds 
for  countless  herds  of  wild  and  domesticated  animals, 
for  those,  during  ages  of  pasturage,  returned  to  the 
soil  the  elements  most  suitable  for  plant  life. 

GENERAL   CHARACTERISTICS. 

Inasmuch  as  this  book  is  devoted  to  irrigation,  it 
will  be  understood  in  all  cases,  that  the  lands  and  soils 
referred  to  in  it  belong  to  that  class  known  as  "arid," 
or  "semi-arid,"  or,  as  they  are  commonly  called,  "desert 
lands,"  as  contradistinguished  from  those  soils  which 
produce  crops  through  the  instrumentality  of  rain.  This 
is  often  said  to  be  raising  crops  by  "natural  means,"  but 
it  by  no  means  follows  that  growing  crops  by  irrigation 


Semi- A  rid  and  A  rid  Lands.  38 

implies  "unnatural"  means,  the  latter  method  being 
equally  as  natural  as  the  former,  the  forces  of  nature 
being  equally  at  the  command  and  disposal  of  the  farmer. 
Nature  works  along  lines  laid  down  by  general  laws, 
and  man  makes  a  special  application  of  them  for  his 
own  uses  and  purposes.  He  drains  the  land  when  the 
rain  fall  is  too  abundant,  and  when  it  is  insufficient,  or 
fails  altogether,  he  irrigates  it.  He  follows  the  laws 
of  nature  in  both  cases,  wthout  altering,  straining,  or 
violating  them,  indeed,  he  could  not  if  he  would. 

Comparing  the  entire  vast  area  of  arable  desert 
lands  of  the  great  West  with  the  lands  within  the  rain 
belt,  the  soil  relations  between  the  various  localities 
are  substantially  the  same.  There  are  good  and  there 
are  bad  lands,  lands  that  are  fertile  and  others  that  are 
sterile;  here  we  find  soils  which  will  grow  luxuriant 
crops,  there  we  see  soils  that  are  not  worth  even  an 
experiment. 

To  realize  this  properly  the  reader  must  divest 
his  mind  of  the  idea  of  immensity  that  amazes,  and 
often  disheartens  him;  this  idea  eliminated,  the  only 
thought  that  should  dominate  his  mind,  if  he  con- 
templates practical  success,  is,  how  to  abolish  the  actual 
differences  and  arrive  at  practical  uniformity  in  agri- 
cultural results.  He  thinks  of  the  pioneers  who  went 
into  the  forests  with  their  axes  and  laboriously  felled 
trees  and  extracted  stumps  with  infinite  labor,  to  pre- 
pare a  clearing,  in  the  soil  of  which  he  might  plant 
his  sparse  crops,  and  wait  years  before  establishing 
any  sort  of  home.  Perhaps  he  remembers  how  a  bog 
or  marsh  had  to  be  drained,  and  the  years  it  required 
to  "sweeten"  the  soil  before  it  could  be  utilized.  He 
does  not  fully  realize  that  in  the  desert  his  land  is  ready 
for  his  muscles,  for  his  seed,  and  for  his  crop ;  he  does 
not  dream  that  he  does  not  have  to  grow  old  before 
carving  out  a  comfortable  home  as  he  had  to  do  in 
the  old  days,  back  in  what  he  is  pleased  to  call  "God's 
country,"  and  that  out  in  the  desert  he  may  have  a 


34  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

home  and  plenty  while  still  young  enough  to  enjoy  them. 

The  climatic  differences  are  too  much  in  favor  of 
the  desert  to  desire  alteration,  but  the  diametrically  op- 
posite methods  of  controlling  the  soil  are  difficult  to 
be  appreciated,  though  they  are  never  baffling.  They 
are  no  greater  than  elsewhere,  but  they  are  opposed  by 
preconceived  opinions,  perhaps,  rooted  prejudices,  and 
are,  therefore,  apparetly  more  serious.  There  are  illim- 
itable treeless  regions,  covered  or  patched  with  stunted 
vegetation,  that  receive  little  or  no  moisture  at  all 
from  the  clouds,  and  a  soil  parched,  even  burned  by 
the  hot  sun.  Yet  the  scientists  have  discovered  and 
classified  197  different  species  of  plants  that  love  the 
desert  soil  and  flourish  in  it.  Many  of  them  suitable 
for  animal  food,  all  of  them  indicating  some  quality 
in  or  under  the  soil  as  plainly  as  if  they  were  labeled. 

Thus,  greasewood,  or  "creosote  bush,"  indicates  less 
than  0.4  per  cent  of  alkali  in  the  soil;  salt  grass  and 
foxtail  mean  that  there  is  plenty  of  moisture  at  the 
surface  of  the  ground  and  consequently,  the  presence 
of  free  ground  water  not  far  below  the  surface;  shad 
scale  indicates  dry  land  with  less  than  0.4  per  cent 
of  salt;  rabbit  bush  flourishes  on  sandy  soil  compar- 
atively free  from  salts,  and  will  seldom  grow  under  any 
other  conditions;  sweet  clover  and  foxtail  indicate  wet 
land  and  less  than  four  per  cent  of  salts,  though  sweet 
clover  will  grow  in  six  per  cent  alkali  soil  and  produce 
a  fairly  good  crop  for  forage  if  harvested  very  early. 

So  it  is  with  the  color  of  the  soil.  Indications  are 
ever  present  of  the  dominant  characteristics  of  the 
ground.  Red  soils  always  indicate  iron  in  the  form  of 
an  oxide;  black  soils  mean  carbonate  of  soda,  an  alkali 
ruinous  to  vegetation;  white  soils  or  gray  mean  soda 
in  sulphate  salt  form,  also  deleterious  to  plants  when 
more  than  one  or  two  per  cent ;  gray  or  brown  and  black 
cracked  or  checked  soil  with  vegetation,  signifies  adobe, 
while  barren,  dark  or  light  colored  soil  so  hard  that 
dynamite  is  more  suitable  for  its  tillage  than  a  plow, 


Semi-Arid  and  Arid  Lands.  85 

is  "hardpan,"  the  former  indicating  a  soil  retentive  of 
moisture,  the  latter  indicating  that  moisture  is  some- 
where beneath. 

Another  peculiarity  of  desert  land  soils  is  the  fre- 
quent occurrence  in  the  soil  when  plowed  or  dug  up, 
of  innumerable  small  roots  or  rooty  fibers.  They  are, 
indeed,  vegetable  remains,  but  through  lack  of  moisture, 
they  have  not  fermented  into  humus,  though  it  may 
be  said  that  they  have  practically  "oxydized"  without 
losing  any  of  their  nitrogenous  elements.  It  is  well 
for  the  desert  soil  where  this  organic  matter  exists,  that 
these  rooty  fibers  have  not  fermented,  for  the  inorganic 
matter,  the  alkalies  and  other  mineral  and  metallic 
salts  would  have  speedily  devoured  the  product  and 
left  nothing  for  plants  to  feed  upon.  The  reader  has 
already  been  informed  that  both  organic  and  inorganic 
elements  are  essential  to  plant  life,  and  that  the  inor- 
ganic elements — the  substances  given  in  the  table  in 
the  second  chapter  and  their  combinations  into  salts, 
are  largely  in  excess  of  the  organic  elements.  The  same 
principle  holds  good  in  the  case  of  desert  soils — it  is 
not  a  theory  but  a  practical  fact — that  organic  matter 
added  to  the  inorganic  means  life;  their  separation, 
death.  Hence,  it  is  clear,  that  the  addition  or  presence 
of  organic  matter  and  nitrogen,  added  to  the  mass 
of  inorganic  substances  in  the  soil,  tempers  the  latter 
and  lessens  its  natural  tendency  to  do  harm.  In  the 
case  of  an  alkali  soil,  vegetable  matter  and  nitrogenous 
substances  lessen  the  deleterious  effects  of  the  alkali, 
although  it  may  not  reduce  the  percentage  of  the  salts. 
Whence,  also,  the  presence  of  masses  of  coarse  or  fine 
vegetable  fibers  in  the  soil  is  evidence  of  either  the 
absence  of  an  excess  of  alkali,  or  that  it  is  under  con- 
trol and  innocuous  to  vegetation.  Perhaps  the  reader 
may  see  in  this  a  way  to  get  rid  of  the  alkali  in  soils 
and  render  them  fertile.  If  he  does,  he  will  not  be 
far  wrong  in  his  idea,  as  we  shall  see  presently. 


36  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

LACK  OF  WATEB. 

There  are  two  conditions  which  are  the  bane  of 
all  desert  lands,  whether  arid  or  semi-arid:  Lack  of 
water  and  the  presence,  in  excess,  of  alkalis.  We  shall 
devote  space  here  to  some  general  remarks  on  both 
conditions,  leaving  it  to  subsequent  chapters  to  enter 
more  into  details.  The  chapters  on  "Alkali  Soils/' 
"The  Kelations  of  Water  to  the  Soil,"  and  that  on  "Cul- 
tivation," will  give  more  particulars,  though  at  this 
point  it  may  be  necessary  to  include  matter  which  will 
be  repeated  elsewhere,  or  presented  from  a  different 
viewpoint.  This,  however,  should  not  be  deprecated 
as  a  fault,  but  extolled  as  a  benefit,  for  the  subject  is 
of  so  much  vital  importance  that  it  can  not  be  repeated 
too  often,  lest  it  be  forgotten. 

There  must  be  a  water  table  at  some  point  below 
every  soil,  at  a  less  or  greater  depth.  This  may  be 
accepted  as  a  fact  without  going  into  geology  to  prove 
it.  Such  subsoil  water  originates  in  a  variety  of  sources, 
through  percolations  from  above,  underground  streams 
coming  from  great  distances,  from  springs  that  have 
their  original  sources  in  some  nearby  hill  or  mountain 
land,  by  seepage  from  rivers,  brooks,  or  streams,  from  an 
irrigating  ditch,  or  pond,  and  from  the  artificial  sur- 
face application,  or  through  sub-irrigation.  Although 
the  action  of  the  earth's  gravity  pulls  or  draws  water 
downward  as  it  does  every  other  object  heavier  than 
the  atmosphere,  the  constant  natural  tendency  of  the 
water  beneath  the  surface  is  to  rise  to  the  surface  and 
evaporate. 

It  is  this  rise  of  the  water  table  to  the  surface 
that  causes  more  alarm  than  any  other  process  of  nature 
in  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions,  particularly  in  the 
arid  regions  where  all  water  must  be  applied  artificially. 
The  reason  is  obvious.  The  subsoil  water  contains  in 
solution  whatever  soluble  salts  it  may  come  in  contact 
with,  and  reaching  the  surface,  evaporates,  leaving  be- 
hind a  deposit  of  the  salts  as  crystals.  Constant  deep 


Semi-Arid  and  Arid  Lands.  37 

cultivation  also  has  a  tendency  to  bring  up  the  water 
table  with  alkaline  solutions,  for  we  have  already  seen 
that  the  subsoil  contains  in  reserve  as  much  mineral 
matter  and  salts  as  the  surface  soil.  And  this  is  so 
whether  the  land  is  in  the  arid  regions  or  in  the  rain 
belt,  the  disadvantage  of  the  desert  land  being  that  the 
proportion  of  organic  matter  is  not  high  enough  to 
maintain  an  equilibrium  of  plant  food  consumption. 
Still,  this  is  not  an  incurable  disadvantage,  for  when 
the  labor  and  expense  of  draining,  mixing,  tempering, 
and  reducing  soils  in  the  rain  belt  is  compared  with 
the  trifling  care  and  attention  devoted  to  desert  land 
soils  to  render  them  continuously  fertile,  the  wonder 
is  that  they  produce  any  crops  at  all,  so  slight  is  the 
effort  to  make  them  yield. 

It  is  not  uncommon  to  fill  the  subsoil  with  water 
from  irrigating  ditches,  by  putting  into  it  all  the  sup- 
ply obtainable  during  the  flood  season,  thus  bringing 
the  water  table  sufficiently  near  the  surface  to  supply 
the  crops  by  capillary  action.  This  brings  the  ground 
water  within  three  or  four  feet  of  the  surface,  which 
is  well  enough  for  alfalfa  and  gross  feeding  plants,  but 
is  bad  for  trees,  vines,  and  more  delicate  plants.  In 
arid  regions  where  irrigation  is  the  only  means  of  bring- 
ing moisture  to  the  soil  the  water  table  may  be  a  hun- 
dred or  more  feet  below  the  surface  and  can  not  rise  on 
account  of  impenetrable  strata  of  rock  or  hardpan.  But 
in  that  case  the  irrigation  water  creates  a  new  water 
table,  ^the  excess  of  the  irrigating  water  sinking  down 
until  it  meets  an  impervious  stratum  of  rock  or  hard- 
pan,  and  there  it  accumulates,  becomes  stationary,  dis- 
solves out  the  earth  salts  and  when  the  surface  soil 
dries  out  or  is  deeply  cultivated  begins  coming  to  the 
surface  by  capillary  action,  every  subsequent  additional 
saturation  of  the  soil  from  the  irrigating  ditch  increas- 
ing the  area  and  zone  of  the  artificial  water  table. 
When  that  happens,  and  it  does  happen  in  desert  lands 
sooner  than  it  takes  to  clear  the  ground  of  trees  and 


38  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

stumps  in  the  rain  belt,  drainage  becomes  of  vital  im- 
portance, second  to  irrigation  itself. 

In  semi-arid  regions,  where  there  is  some  rain  fall, 
though  inadequate,  the  amount  of  rainfall,  whatever 
it  may  be,  has  washed  the  alkali  out  of  the  surface 
soil  down  into  the  water  table,  and  the  surface  soil 
is  freer  from  the  deleterious  material,  which  in  the 
arid  soils  even  prevents  the  seeds  from  germinating 
and  obtaining  a  foothold  strong  enough  to  resist  it, 
for  when  a  plant  has  outgrown  its  infancy,  and  devel- 
oped its  first  true  leaves,  it  will  require  a  most  extraor- 
dinary quantity  of  deleterious  material  to  destroy  it. 
It  refuses  to  absorb  what  it  does  not  need  and  does 
not  require,  and  unless  wholly  overpowered  by  the  so- 
lutions in  the  water  that  surrounds  it,  it  will  grow 
up  to  be  something  more  or  less  perfect. 

It  is  said  that  six  or  eight  inches  of  rain  will 
mature  a  crop  in  the  semi-arid  region  with  proper  cul- 
tivation. It  matters  little  whether  it  be  wheat  or  bar- 
ley if  the  grain  be  sown  very  thin  to  allow  more  room 
for  stooling.  Six  inches  will  grow  it  to  fodder  and  eight 
inches  will  cause  it  to  head  out  fairly  well.  An  instance 
has  been  called  to  the  attention  of  the  author,  where 
ten  inches  produced  two  crops  without  irrigation. 

A  fair  crop  of  potatoes  was  grown  in  and  removed 
from  the  fibrous,  red  clayey  soil  in  April.  The  land 
lay  on  a  side  hill,  about  in  the  center,  the  summit  of 
which  had  been  roughly  plowed  to  gather  as  much 
rain  as  possible  so  as  to  utilize  the  seepage  for  the  po- 
tatoes. Immediately  after  the  removal  of  the  potatoes 
the  land  was  plowed  deep,  and  moisture  still  showing, 
it  was  carefully  cultivated.  Corn,  of  the  variety  known 
as  "white  Mexican,"  was  then  dibbled  in  and  left  to 
its  fate.  From  the  time  of  its  planting,  until  harvested, 
not  a  drop  of  water  was  put  on  the  land  by  way  of 
irrigation,  and  only  about  an  inch  of  rain  in  "Scotch 
mists"  fell  upon  the  surface.  The  corn  came  up  in 
four  days  and  grew  strong  and  vigorous.  The  soil 


Stmi-A  rid  and  A  rid  Lands.  39 

was  plowed  deep  about  every  ten  days,  fully  turned 
over  and  followed  with  the  cultivator  and  harrow,  until 
it  became  so  soft  and  powdery  that  it  was  difficult  to 
walk  in  it.  It  was  also  hoed  frequently,  not  a  weed 
being  permitted  to  appear,  and  the  soil  stirred  deep 
and  drawn  well  up  over  the  roots.  The  land  measured 
about  an  acre.  The  corn  grew  to  full  maturity  without 
a  single  set  back,  or  twisting  of  a  leaf.  The  stalks 
measured  an  average  of  nine  feet  and  each  bore  from 
two  to  four  perfect  ears  of  plump  kernels,  and  made 
good  roasting  ears,  and  when  harvested  in  the  middle 
of  June,  the  ground  still  showed  some  moisture. 

Instances  of  this  particular  kind  are  abundant  in 
every  locality  in  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions.  They 
are  nothing  but  experiments,  or  rather  accidents,  and 
prove  nothing  that  can  be  of  general  utility.  They 
show,  however,  what  may  be  done  by  careful  cultivation 
with  a  small  amount  of  water  husbanded  to  the  last 
drop.  There  was  not  a  particle  of  alkali  in  the  soil 
above  referred  to,  and  it  was  very  retentive  of  moisture. 
It  emphasizes  what  the  author  contends,  and  what  sci- 
entific investigation  places  beyond  the  pale  of  denial, 
that  cultivation  and  moisture  are  what  may  be  con- 
sidered essentials,  and  not  water  in  its  liquid  form. 
To  borrow  a  word  from  another  profession:  we  are 
dealing  with  the  homoeopathy  of  agriculture,  and  ad- 
vocating water  triturations  provided  they  accomplish  the 
purpose  of  growing  a  profitable  crop,  where  drastic 
doses  will  ruin. 

In  every  case,  however,  the  supply  of  water  dimin- 
ished by  evaporation  must  be  restored  either  by  irriga- 
tion or  by  rain  fall,  and  the  requisite  amount  must  be 
continuous  and  not  intermittent;  that  is,  the  plant 
must  be  kept  growing. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  water  is  a  solvent 
of  the  salts  necessary  to  plant  life,  and  as  a  medium 
for  conveying  them  in  a  state  of  solution  to  the  plants, 
there  would  be  no  necessity  for  water,  and  plants  could 


40  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

grow  in  an  absolutely  dry  and  rainless  region  without 
irrigation. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  is  not  so  much 
"wetness"  that  plants  require,  as  a  medium  for  dissolv- 
ing the  earthy  salts  pnd  vegetable  acids,  so  that  the  two 
may  find  their  affinities  and  form  the  various  chemi- 
cal combinations  which  are  necessary  to  make  the  plant. 
When  that  has  been  accomplished  all  the  rest  is  sur- 
plus, waste,  useless  expenditure  of  the  forces  of  naturea 
deleterious  to  plants  by  over  feeding  them,  and  injurious 
to  the  soil  by  washing  its  reserve  elements  out  alto- 
gether, or  driving  them  down  into  the  subsoil  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  plant  roots,  or  forcing  them  to  com- 
bine in  excessive  quantities  which  leach  out,  or  crys- 
tallize on  the  surface  and  accumulate  in  masses  that 
prevent  the  germination  of  seeds. 

More  will  be  said  upon  this  important  subject  in 
the  chapter  on  "The  Relations  of  Water  to  the  Soil," 
the  second  bane  of  desert  land,  "alkali,"  being  next  in 
order. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ALKALI    SOILS;     THEIR   NATURE,    TREATMENT   AND 
RECLAMATION. 

The  "alkalis,"  as  they  are  called,  are  common  to  all 
soils  wherever  they  may  be  found  on  the  globe;  they 
belong  to  earth  and  are  part  of  its  essential  constituents. 

Originally,  they  were  brought  or  carried  into  the 
soil  along  with  the  other  elements  which  form  its  in- 
organic bulk  (as  has  been  explained  in  Chapter  II), 
by  the  pulverization  of  rocks  and  minerals,  the  deposi- 
tion of  inorganic  sediment  held  in  solution  by  water, 
by  glacial  action,  by  seepage  from  rivers,  and  numerous 
other  ways* 

These  elements,  if  unacted  upon,  would  forever 
remain  in  an  insoluble,  inert  condition,  incapable  of 
exerting  any  influence  upon  each  other,  or  of  perform- 
ing any  functions  whatever;  in  which  case,  however, 
there  could  not  be  any  plant  life  of  any  kind.  But 
nature  comes  in  and  begins  action  upon  these  elements 
and  changes  their  form  so  that  they  may  become  capable 
of  aiding  in  the  production  of  plants  by  furnishing 
them  with  the  food  to  make  them  grow  and  ripen  their 
fruit  or  seed. 

First,  we  have  the  atmosphere,  or  air,  which,  how- 
ever arid  the  region,  contains  oxygen  in  a  very  large 
proportion,  and  this  oxygen  attacks  the  inorganic  ele- 
ments, transforming  them  into  various  substances,  or 
rather  fits  them  to  be  acted  upon  by  other  substances  so 
that  they  may  become  useful  or  otherwise.  Thus, 
oxygen  acts  upon  potash,  soda,  lime  and  magnesia  to 
form  what  are  known  as  "alkaline  bases/'  that  is,  the 
foundations  for  the  "salts,"  which  are  beneficial  in  mod- 
erate quantities  but  injurious  in  excess.  The  forces  of 
nature  are  always  at  work,  regardless  of  the  quantity 
of  the  product;  certain  laws  are  followed,  and  these 
laws  keep  on  operating  in  certain  unvarying  ways,  ac- 
cording to  a  fixed  program,  which  is  never  changed  un- 


4%  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

less  man  comes  in  and  compels  a  change.  The  follow- 
ing table  will  enable  the  reader  to  understand  in  a  gen- 
eral way  how  nature  works  upon  the  elements  in  the 
soil  through  oxygen : 

OXYGEN 

Unites  with  Potassium  and  forms  Potash. 

Unites  with  Sodium  and  forms  Soda. 

Unites  with  Calcium  and  forms  Lime. 

Unites  with  Magnesium  and  forms  Magnesia. 

The  oxygen  acts  upon  the  above  four  metals  just 
as  it  does  on  iron  exposed  to  the  air,  when  it  forms  the 
familiarly  known  "rust,"  which  is  technically  called 
"oxide  of  iron."  So  the  potash,  soda,  lime  and  mag- 
nesia are  really  the  earth  oxides,  the  four  of  them 
being  "alkaline  bases,"  that  is,  the  foundations  upon 
which  to  compound  all  the  various  kinds  of  alkalis. 

These  "oxides,"  or  "bases,"  in  themselves,  would 
be  of  very  little  use  or  harm  while  in  that  state,  but  the 
oxygen  in  the  air  and  everywhere  else  attacks  the  other 
essential  elements  in  the  soil  as  well  as  the  potash, 
soda,  lime  and  magnesia,  that  is,  the  silicon,  carbon, 
sulphur  and  phosphorus,  but  instead  of  converting  them 
into  oxides,  or  alkaline  bases,  turns  them  into  "acids." 
The  following  table  will  explain: 

OXYGEN 

Unites  with  Silicon  and  forms  Silicic  Acid. 
Unites  with  Carbon  and  forms  Carbonic  Acid. 
Unites  with  Sulphur  and  forms  Sulphuric  Acid. 
Unites  with  Phosphorus  and  forms  Phosphoric  Acid. 

Here  is  where  the  whole  trouble  about  alkali  soils 
begins,  for  these  acids  mentioned  in  the  last  table, 
which  may  be  called  mineral,  or  metalic,  acids,  have  a 
great  affinity  for  the  alkaline  bases  mentioned  in  the 
first  table,  and  greedily  seize  upon  them,  forming 
"salts,"  as  they  are  commonly  called.  When  these  min- 
eral acids  attack  the  alkaline  bases,  this  is  what  happens : 


Alkali  Soils.  43 

Silicic  Acid  f^oins  Silicate  of  Potash,  Soda,  Lime  and 

Magnesia.  *" 
Carbonic  Acid  forms  Carbonate  of  Potash,  Soda,  Lime 

and  Magnesia. 
Sulphuric  Acid  forms  Sulphate  of  Potash,  Soda,  Lime 

and  Magnesia. 
Phosphoric   Acid   forms   Phosphate   of   Potash,    Soda, 

Lime  and  Magnesia. 

It  is  the  carbonate  of  soda,  or  what  is  commonly 
called  "sal  soda,"  which  makes  "black  alkali  land,"  and 
sulphate  of  soda,  or  "Glauber  salt,"  which  constitutes 
"white  alkali  land."  There  are  numerous  other  salts 
formed  by  combining  the  alkaline  bases  and  the  min- 
eral acids,  but  sufficient  are  given  here  to  make  the 
principle  clear;  to  enumerate  the  others  would  require 
a  volume,  and  complicate  too  much  the  idea  sought  to 
be  conveyed  in  this  book.  Moreover,  their  action  is  the 
same  as  the  sodas,  though  in  a  much  less  harmful  de- 
gree. 

So  far,  water  has  been  kept  in  the  background,  as 
unnecessary  to  the  formation  of  these  salts,  but  when 
water  is  brought  in  the  distribution  of  these  alkaline 
salts  is  largely  aided,  for  the  alkalis  are  extremely 
soluble  in  water,  the  latter  taking  up  nearly  its  own 
weight  of  the  salts.  When  this  happens,  the  alkalis 
are  carried  wherever  the  water  penetrates,  and  when 
it  comes  to  the  surface  it  evaporates  into  the  atmos- 
phere, but  leaves  the  alkali  salts  behind  to  accumulate, 
until  the  soil  is  ruined  for  purposes  of  vegetation  un- 
less they  are  removed,  or  got  rid  of  in  some  way  and 
the  soil  thus  "reclaimed,"  as  it  is  called. 

In  this  inorganic  matter,  plant  life  is  impossible. 
As  has  already  been  said,  organic  matter  in  combination 
with  the  inorganic  matter,  is  essential  to  plants  of  any 
kind,  and  here  originates  a  phenomenon  as  common  as 
the  continual  process  of  the  formation  of  alkalis  by 
combinations  with  the  mineral,  or  metallic,  acids,  as 


44  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

above  specified.  Organic  matter  also  combines  to  form 
acids  which  are  called  "vegetable  acids,"  and  they  also 
readily  combine  with  the  alkaline  bases,  the  result  of 
which  is  mutual  destruction.  This  will  be  understood 
from  a  simple  experiment  that  any  reader  can  try. 

Vinegar  is  the  most  commonly  known  vegetable 
acid,  the  technical  name  of  which  is  "acetic  acid,"  it 
being  formed  during  the  germination  of  seeds  in  the 
ground,  as  will  be  explained  in  the  chapter  on  Plant 
Foods.  The  plant  forms  it  within  its  tissues  and  then 
rejects  it  for  the  purpose  of  permitting  it  to  continue 
dissolving  the  earthy  substances  with  which  it  is  in 
contact.  It  is  also  formed  artificially  for  domestic  use. 
Now  this  vinegar  is  the  natural  enemy  of  the  alkalis. 
When  poured  upon  any  of  the  alkalis  of  potash,  soda, 
or  magnesia,  it  causes  a  hissing  or  effervescence.  When 
this  ceases,  there  is  left  neither  an  alkali  nor  acid,  both 
have  disappeared,  and  their  substances  are  totally 
changed  into  something  else,  a  new  salt  called  an 
"acetate,"  which  is  neither  one  thing  or  the  other ;  they 
have  mutually  destroyed  each  other. 

These  acetates  are  not  noxious  to  plants,  and  ap- 
pear to  be  freely  created  by  the  plant  itself  during  the 
process  of  developing  acetic  acid,  which  is  essential  for 
the  purpose  of  transforming  starch  into  sugar,  whether 
of  the  cane  or  grape  variety,  and  for  laying  the  founda- 
tion of  woody  fiber  and  cellular  tissues,  all  of  which, 
alkali  tends  to  prevent  if  in  excess.  It  is  well  known 
from  actual  experience  that  sugar  bearing  plants,  such 
as  sorghum,  sugar  beets,  and  trees  of  abundant  starch 
and  woody  fiber  will  flourish  luxuriantly  in  alkali  soils 
that  will  not  even  permit  the  germination  of  cereals,  or 
alfalfa.  The  reason  why  this  is  so  is  not  far  to  seek, 
and  when  well  understood  the  partial  reclamation  of 
alkali  lands,  even  under  adverse  conditions,  may  be  at- 
tained, and  wholly  so  where  the  conditions  are  opposed 
to  the  accumulations  of  alkali  from  artificial  sources. 


Alkali  Soils.  45 

DANGEROUS  PERCENTAGE  OF  ALKALI. 

There  is  much  controversy  about  the  dangerous 
amount  of  alkalis  in  arable  soils,  but  the  entire  ques- 
tion may  be  resolved  into  four  divisions: 

First — Soils  naturally  so  heavily  charged  with 
alkali  as  to  be  worthless. 

Second — Soils  in  which  the  alkali  is  increased  by 
fortuitous  or  artificial  means. 

Third — Alkali  soils  suitable  for  general  crops. 

Fourth — Alkali  soils  adapted  only  to  certain  special 
classes  of  plants. 

The  sodas  are  the  most  dangerous  of  the  alkalis, 
both  the  carbonate,  or  "sal  soda,"  which  is  the  cause 
of  "black  alkali  land,"  and  the  sulphate,  or  "Glauber 
salts,"  which  is  the  deposit  on  most  of  the  "white  alkali 
lands,"  because  they  are  so  very  easily  soluble  in  water, 
whereas  the  sulphate  of  lime,  or  "gypsum,"  and  all  the 
other  sulphates,  and  the  phosphates,  are  very  much  less 
soluble  in  water.  The  consequence  is,  the  soda  alkalis 
are  always  shifting  their  location,  always  following  the 
water,  because  the  latter  takes  them  up  greedily  when- 
ever they  are  brought  in  contact,  whether  on  the  sur- 
face or  in  the  subsoil,  or  under  the  influence  of  seepage 
which  carries  the  alkalis  from  a  higher  to  a  lower  level. 
The  tendency  of  water  when  in  motion,  or  flowing,  is 
first  downward,  it  leaches,  or  percolates  through  the 
soil,  but  after  it  has  become  stationary,  that  is,  when 
it  does  not  find  an  outlet  through  drainage,  either  nat- 
ural or  artificial,  it  begins  an  upward  movement  toward 
the  surface  through  capillary  action,  and  carries  with  it 
the  alkalis  it  contains  in  solution,  evaporates  and  leaves 
the  salts  on  the  surface.  It  is  not  difficult  to  under- 
stand how  the  alkalis  accumulate  in  the  soil,  the  diffi- 
culty begins  when  the  attempt  is  made  to  remove  them 
and  fit  the  soil  for  plant  life. 

As  the  amount  of  alkali  deposited  in  the  soil  in- 
creases, the  number  of  species  or  varieties  of  plants  de- 
creases. Where  soils  are  charged  with  an  excess  of 


46  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

alkalis  by  fortuitous  or  artificial  means,  the  reader  will 
understand  that  the  excess  has  been  added  to  the  natural 
supply  by  the  flooding  of  rains,  or  by  irrigation.  The 
alkali  has  not  been  washed  out  of  the  soil  by  the  water, 
it  has  been  carried  into  it  by  water  charged  with  the 
soluble  salts,  directly,  or  by  seepage  from  irrigating 
ditches.  In  either  case,  deep  cultivation,  surface,  or 
sub-drainage,  will  tend  to  restore  the  soil  to  its  normal 
condition.  Moreover,  it  is  not  difficult  to  wash  out  of 
the  soil  the  elements  necessary  to  plant  life  through  the 
application  of  water,  and,  inasmuch  as  the  alkalis  are 
more  soluble  than  any  of  the  plant  foods,  it  should  be 
less  difficult  to  eliminate  the  former  by  the  same  process 
that  carried  them  into  the  soil,  intelligently  applied. 

One  per  cent  of  alkali  salts  in  an  average  soil  one 
foot  deep  equals  40,946  pounds  dry,  and  55,146  pounds 
wet,  too  great  a  quantity  for  the  successful  growth  of 
cereals,  although  the  soil  may  be  very  rich  in  all  the 
other  plant  foods,  which  is  generally  the  case  in  all 
alkali  soils,  and  this  percentage  will  prevent  the  growth 
of  trees,  bushes,  vines  and  root  crops  in  general.  Some- 
times the  alkali  is  near  the  surface,  in  the  first  two 
inches  of  it;  indeed,  the  tendency  of  the  alkalis  is 
toward  the  surface,  in  this  case  the  one  per  cent  of 
alkali  would  mean  a  weight  of  the  salts  in  a  foot  deep 
acre  of  only  about  6,824  pounds  dry,  or  9,191  pounds 
wet,  a  quantity  not  in  excess  if  distributed  uniformly 
through  the  soil.  But  lying  at  the  immediate  surface, 
the  cereal  grains  cannot  germinate,  or  if  they  do  the 
young  and  tender  plants  perish  from  thirst,  literally, 
the  alkalis  absorbing  all  the  water  around  them,  al- 
though there  may  be  plenty  of  untainted  water  in  the 
subsoil,  in  which  case  deep  plowing  and  turning  the 
soil  over  will  furnish  a  top  soil  in  which  the  seeds  may 
germinate  and  reach  a  growth  able  to  resist  the  alkali 
turned  under.  In  fact,  the  roots  of  the  plants  will 
reach  beyond  the  alkali,  for  the  latter  will  then  have 
again  sought  the  surface,  where  it  can  do  no  harm. 


Alkali  Soils.  47 

Alfalfa,  for  instance,  will  grow  in  a  moderately 
alkaline  soil,  because  the  long  tap  roots  penetrate  to  the 
subsoil  depths,  where  there  is  less  alkali.  Moreover,  the 
thick  growth  and  luxuriant  foliage  shade  the  ground 
and  prevent  evaporation,  which  is  the  handmaid  of 
alkali  deposits. 

All  soils  showing  less  than  one-fifth  of  one  per 
cent  of  alkali  salts,  that  is,  less  than  9,000  pounds  to 
the  foot  acre  dry,  or  12,000  pounds  wet,  may  be  consid- 
ered safe  for  all  kinds  of  crops,  and  there  will  never 
be  any  danger  from  excess  of  alkalis,  so  long  as  good 
water  is  used  and  the  land  well  drained  and  cultivated. 
When  the  alkali  goes  beyond  one-fifth  to  two-fifths  per 
cent,  general  crops  fail,  as  a  rule,  and  spots  begin  to 
show  when  cultivated.  And  when  the  alkali  reaches 
four-tenths  and  six-tenths  of  one  per  cent,  while  gen- 
eral crops  will  not  grow,  sweet  clover  and  the  common 
run  of  fleshy,  scented  and  sugary  plants  will  grow  and 
produce  large  crops,  but  must  be  harvested  early  in  the 
case  of  forage  plants,  as  has  already  been  said,  else  they 
will  become  bitter  and  uneatable. 

There  are,  as  has  been  said,  about  197  species  of 
plants  which  possess  a  great  affinity  for  alkali  and  will 
luxuriate  in  masses  of  it  where  all  other  vegetation  fails 
to  gain  a  foothold.  Thus,  greasewood,  or  creosote  bush, 
will  flourish  in  a  soil  containing  194,760  pounds  of 
alkali  salts  per  acre  one  foot  deep,  which  is  more  than 
four  per  cent  of  alkali.  Scrub  salt  bush  will  grow  in 
soil  containing  78,240  pounds  per  acre,  equal  to  about 
one  and  one-half  per  cent.  Samphire  luxuriates  in  soil 
containing  306,000  pounds  of  alkali  per  acre,  or  about 
six  per  cent.  Wheat,  however,  will  not  grow  where  the 
soil  contains  a  total  of  20,520  pounds  of  the  sulphates, 
carbonates,  chlorides  and  nitrates  of  soda  and  potash 
per  acre  one  foot  deep,  which  is  less  than  one-half  of  one 
per  cent  of  the  weight  of  the  soil. 


48  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

ATTEMPTS  AT  RECLAMATION. 

It  is  impossible  to  establish  any  rule  or  set  of  rules 
for  the  adaptation  of  alkali  lands  to  profitable  crops. 
The  natural  growth  of  numerous  varieties  and  species 
of  plants  on  strong  alkalis  is  of  very  little  moment  to 
the  farmer,  his  main  inquiry  being:  How  shall  I  get 
rid  of  the  excess  of  alkali?  The  whole  object  of  culti- 
vating the  soil  is  to  compel  it  to  produce  something 
useful  as  well  as  profitable,  otherwise  it  is  labor  lost  to 
put  a  plow  in  the  ground.  But  in  the  arid  and  semi- 
arid  lands  the  soil  may  be  exceedingly  fertile  for  general 
crops,  and  after  cultivation  and  irrigation  may  become 
so  impregnated  with  alkali  as  to  lose  that  fertility  in 
spite  of  the  quantities  of  essential  plant  food  stifl  in 
the  soil. 

Where  this  calamity  overtakes  the  farmer  he  can 
not  very  well  wander  about  and  take  up  a  new  location 
on  fresh  land  and  again  go  through  the  same  experi- 
ence. He  must  remain  rooted  to  the  soil,  so  to  speak, 
and  use  all  the  information  he  can  gather  to  restore  his 
land  to  its  normal  condition,  or  so  much  of  it  as  has 
gone  wrong.  It  is  a  well-known  saying:  "All  signs 
fail  in  dry  weather,"  and  there  are  several  others  equally 
as  apt.  Some  say :  "It  is  useless  to  pray  for  rain  with 
the  wind  from  the  wrong  quarter,"  or,  "It  is  a  dry 
moon,  and  the  horns  up  won't  let  the  water  out."  In 
the  case  of  alkali  soils  there  are  no  apt  sayings,  but 
there  ought  to  be  one,  and  a  very  good  one  seems  to  be : 
"Alkali  laughs  at  the  established  methods  of  cultivating 
the  soil." 

When  crops  begin  to  look  "sick,"  and  black  or 
white  patches  appear  here  and  there,  the  reason  is  not 
far  to  seek:  alkali  is  at  work.  The  subsoil  may  be 
alkaline;  there  may  be  a  stratum  of  hard  pan  which 
prevents  the  water  with  its  solution  of  alkalis  from 
leaching  down  through  beyond  the  reach  of  the  roots; 
the  irrigation  water  may  contain  a  large  percentage  of 


Alkali  Soils.  49 

alkali  in  solution,  and,  coming  to  the  surface,  carry  its 
alkali  along  with  it;  there  may  be  an  irrigation  ditch 
above  and  beyond,  or  a  stream,  or  reservoir,  from  which 
the  water  seeps  and  comes  up  wherever  it  can  find  an 
outlet.  In  all  these  cases,  and  there  are  many  others, 
except  where  the  soil  is  naturally  strongly  alkaline,  he 
looks  for  the  cause,  and  he  finds  it  in  fortuitous  or  acci- 
dental additions  of  alkali.  Excess  of  alkali  has  been 
carried  mto  the  soil,  and  he  first  stops  any  further  ar- 
rivals. The  beginning  of  a  remedy  is  the  same  in  the 
case  of  a  thousand  or  more  acres  as  in  the  case  of  but 
one,  there  is  merely  a  difference  in  extent  of  operations. 
Then  the  alkali  having  got  into  the  soil,  he  quite  nat- 
urally thinks  that  it  may  be  got  out  in  the  same  way  it 
got  in.  This  is  true  as  to  methods.  It  drains  or  seeps 
in;  let  it  drain  and  seep  out.  It  came  to  the  surface 
with  the  water  through  capillary  action,  therefore  let 
that  capillary  action  be  stopped  or  impeded.  The  water 
from  the  subsoil  evaporating  at  the  surface  left  the 
alkalis  behind  to  interfere  with  plant  life,  hence,  if  that 
evaporation  be  prevented  or  reduced,  there  will  be  no 
more,  or,  at  least,  less  surface  deposits. 

Without  stopping  to  consider  drainage,  which  re- 
quires a  chapter  of  its  own,  there  are  two  conditions  or 
processes  which  are  keys  that  nearly  fit  the  situation: 
cultivation  and  rotation  of  crops. 

Cultivation  serves  a  double  purpose ;  that  of  break- 
ing up  the  uniform  capillary  spaces  in  the  soil  and  pre- 
venting the  rise  of  the  water  from  the  subsoil  to  the 
surface,  and  that  of  covering  the  ground  with  a  layer 
of  dry  soil,  or  a  mulch,  that  prevents  evaporation.  In- 
deed, there  are  cases  where  frequent  cultivation,  or 
stirring  up  of  the  soil,  have  reduced  the  accumulations 
of  alkali  to  one-third  the  amount  on  uncultivated  land. 
As  to  its  preventing  evaporation,  every  farmer  is  too 
well  acquainted  with  the  effect  of  cultivation  as  a  con- 
servative of  the  moisture  in  the  soil  not  to  know  this 
thoroughly. 


50  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

The  incorporation  of  organic  matter  in  the  soil, 
such  as  stable  manure,  leaves,  straw,  plowing  under  a 
crop  of  weeds,  or  green  manure,  tends  to  break  up  the 
capillary  pores  in  the  soil  and  retard  the  upward  move- 
ment of  the  subsoil  water.  But  this  retarding  process 
is  much  greater  if  this  organic  matter  is  spread  over  the 
ground  in  a  uniform  layer  or  mulch.  This  method 
alone  has  saved  many  an  orchard  when  an  adjoining  one 
in  the  same  kind  of  soil  was  perishing  from  an  excess 
of  alkali. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  it  is  water  that  dis- 
solves the  alkalis,  not  moisture.  For  which  reason  the 
water  in  the  subsoil  must  be  kept  below  the  surface  at 
least  three,  four,  five  and  six  feet,  according  to  the  soil 
and  the  crops.  It  is  the  standing  water  below  the  sur- 
face which  soaks  up  the  salts,  and  they  must  be  drained 
away  until  the  water  table  will  not  send  up  water,  but 
moisture  only,  a  sort  of  subsoil  evaporation,  to  coin  an 
expression,  the  water  coming  up  as  wet  vapor,  or  merely 
wetness,  leaving  its  salts  behind,  they  being  unable  to 
follow  unless  held  in  solution. 

As  soon  as  water  from  rain  or  irrigation  begins  to 
fill  the  soil,  the  standing  water  below  with  its  alkalis  in 
solution  commences  to  rise,  but  by  keeping  this  subsoil 
water  at  a  depth  of  five  or  six  feet,  and  thus  allowing 
an  easy  movement  of  moisture  through  the  land,  the 
work  of  reclamation  is  easily  attained.  Here  is  where 
the  rotation  of  crops  may  be  called  upon  to  aid.  The 
farmer  has  been  growing  wheat,  barley,  small  fruits, 
corn,  etc.,  and  the  soil  has  become  so  impregnated  with 
alkali  as  to  prevent  the  growth  of  any  more  similar 
crops.  Now  when  he  is  leaching  the  alkalis  out  of  the 
soil  he  plants  gross  feeders,  plants  that  have  an  affinity 
for  alkali.  Sorghum  and  sugar  beets  are  recommended 
for  correctives  of  alkali  soils,  but  there  are  many  other 
plants  that  may  be  used  for  the  same  purpose,  such  as 
asparagus,  onions,  sweet  clover,  and  among  the  fruits, 
pears,  figs,  pomegranates  and  date  palms,  all  of  which 


Alkali  Soils.  51 

withstand  the  action  of  alkalis  which  would  kill  cereals 
and  small  fruits. 

The  reason  is  that  all  sugar-producing  plants  re- 
quire large  quantities  of  alkali,  particularly  the  carbon- 
ates, for  starch  is  produced  by  the  decomposition  of 
carbonic  acid,  which  the  plant  breathes  in  through  its 
leaves,  and  takes  up  from  the  soil  through  its  roots. 
Now,  taking  the  carbon  out  of  the  alkalis  renders  them 
innocous,  just  the  same  as  does  vinegar  or  acetic  acid, 
which  is  also  always  forming  in  plants  that  produce 
sugar.  Not  to  be  misunderstood,  it  may  be  well  to  say 
here  that  this  starch  is  transformed  into  sugar,  woody 
fiber  and  cellular  tissue.  When  it  comes  to  raising  20 
to  40  tons  of  sugar  beets  per  acre,  carrying  17  to  22  per 
cent  of  sugar,  and  reflect  that  100  parts  of  the  green 
syrup  of  sugar  beets  carbonated  show  9.18  per  cent  of 
alkali  ashes,  and  that  the  leaves  and  root  fibers  will 
show  nearly  as  much  more,  it  is  a  simple  sum  in  arith- 
metic to  demonstrate  that  it  will  not  take  many  such 
crops  to  remove  the  alkalis,  and  make  it  necessary  to  add 
more  voluntarily  as  a  fertilizer.  Indeed,  in  non-alkali 
soils  it  is  necessary  to  add  alkalis  as  fertilizers  in  culti- 
vating beets.  Within  two  or  three  years  the  alkali- 
devouring  plants  will  have  removed  so  much  of  the 
alkali  from  the  soil  that  barley  and  wheat  can  be  intro- 
duced, and  afterward  a  good  stand  of  alfalfa  secured. 
All  of  these  attempts  at  reclamation  are,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  author,  equivalent  to  a  rotation  of  crops,  since 
they  benefit  and  strengthen  the  soil  by  taking  away 
elements  that  certain  plants  do  not  require,  as  well  as 
add  those  which  they  need. 

The  following  general  rules  to  follow  in  reclaiming 
alkali  soil  may  be  considered  as  a  recapitulation  of  what 
has  been  said  in  this  chapter,  and  in  all  the  authorities 
on  the  subject : 

First — Insure  good  and  rapid  drainage  to  a  depth 
of  three  or  four  feet,  in  which  case  flooding  the  land 


52  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

with  water  is  a  simple  and  sure  method  of  washing  out 
the  alkali. 

Second — Plow  deep ;  say,  twelve  inches. 

Third — Furrow  land  and  plant  sorghum  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  furrows.  Irrigate  heavily,  and  gradually 
cultivate  down  the  ridges  to  uniformity. 

Fourth — After  two  years  in  sorghum  (or  sugar 
beets,  etc.) — deeply  plowed  each  year  and  cultivated 
frequently — plant  barley.  Have  the  surface  of  the 
ground  well  leveled,  and  flood  heavily  before  planting. 

Fifth — Seed  to  any  desired  crop,  for  if  the  land  is 
at  all  porous  a  stand  of  any  ordinary  crop  can  be  se- 
cured, except  in  the  worst  spots. 

What  has  been  said  with  reference  to  the  black  and 
white  alkalis,  is  applicable  to  the  other  alkali  salts,  the 
chlorides  (common  salt,  etc.),  nitrates,  muriates,  etc., 
most  of  which  are  beneficial  and  necessary  to  plants  in 
reasonable  quantities,  but  deleterious  and  destructive  in 
excess,  but,  we  repeat,  not  so  dangerous  as  the  sodas. 

The  processes  of  chemical  transformations  are  al- 
ways going  on  in  nature,  and  every  soil,  together  with 
the  plants  or  crops  growing  upon  it,  constitute  a  vast 
laboratory,  in  which  materials  of  an  almost  infinite 
variety  are  in  a  constant  state  of  manufacture,  and  by 
acquiring  even  a  superficial  knowledge  of  what  nature 
is  doing  and  trying  to  do,  man  will  be  better  able  to  di- 
vert nature  in  his  direction  to  his  profit.  Nature  is 
perfectly  willing  that  this  should  be  done,  and  if  she  is 
diverted  from  her  purposes  and  does  too  much  or  too 
little,  it  is  because  the  man  behind  the  plow  is  looking 
the  other  way. 

Adobe  soils  and  the  hardpans  have  been  reserved 
for  another  chapter,  as  having  a  closer  relation  to  drain- 
age, water,  and  cultivation,  than  to  arid  lands.  Adobe 
is  a  peculiar  kind  of  clay  of  several  varieties,  and  the 
hardpans,  though  sometimes  arable,  in  general  resemble 
the  cement  plaster  which  has  been  found  unimpaired  in 


Alkali  Soils.  53 

the  pyramids  and  temples  of  Egypt  after  thousands  of 
years'  exposure  to  the  elements. 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  plants  which  will 
grow  in  heavily  charged  alkali  soils,  do  so  because  they 
have  an  affinity  for  the  alkaline  salts,  and  take  up  large 
quantities  of  them.  Whence  it  is  clear  that,  by  con- 
tinually growing,  cutting  and  removing  this  "alkali 
vegetation,"  the  excess  salts  in  the  soil  will  be  gradually 
eliminated,  and  thus  the  soil  be  fitted  for  the  growth  of 
other  desired  plants.  This  is  the  law  and  the  gospel  in 
the  case  of  the  commonly  known  "salt  meadows,"  of 
which  there  are  estimated  to  be  in  the  United  States 
over  one  hundred  thousand  square  miles.  The  attempt 
to  reclaim  these  lands  in  this  manner  has  proved  suc- 
cessful in  Germany  and  Holland,  and  has  passed  beyond 
the  mere  experimental  stage  in  the  United  States. 
Wherefore  the  query :  Is  not  the  same  law  applicable  to 
the  overcharged  alkali  lands  of  the  arid  and  semi-arid 
regions  ? 


CHAPTER  V. 

RELATIONS  OF  WATER  TO  THE  SOIL. 

When  a  small  portion  of  soil  is  thoroughly  dried 
and  then  spread  out  on  a  sheet  of  paper  in  the  open  air 
it  will  gradually  drink  in  watery  vapor  from  the  atmos- 
phere and  thus  increase  its  weight  to  a  perceptible  de- 
gree. In  hot  climates  and  during  dry  seasons  this  prop- 
erty of  absorption  in  the  soil' is  of  great  importance  re- 
storing, as  it  does,  to  the  thirsty  ground,  and  bringing 
within  reach  of  plants,  a  part  of  the  moisture  they 
have  so  copiously  exhaled  during  the  day.  Different 
soils  possess  this  property  in  unequal  degrees.  During  a 
night  of  twelve  hours,  for  it  is  at  night  that  watery  vapor 
is  deposited  on  the  ground  (evaporation  from  the  soil 
occurring  during  the  day),  1,000  pounds  of  perfectly 
dry  soil  will  absorb  the  following  quantities  of  moisture 
in  pounds. 

Quartz  sand 0 

Calcareous  sand  2 

Loamy  soil  21 

Clay  loams   25 

Pure  clay   27 

Peaty  soils  and  those  rich  in  vegetable  matters  will 
absorb  a  much  larger  quantity  from  the  atmosphere, 
sometimes  becoming  "wet"  two  inches  deep,  a  surpris- 
ing quantity  of  water  when  the  weight  of  it  on  an  acre 
of  ground  is  calculated.  The  weight  of  dry  and  wet 
soils  has  already  been  given,  and  the  difference  between 
the  two  will,  of  course,  show  the  quantity  in  weight  of 
the  moisture  or  water  absorbed.  The  average  weight 
of  dry  soils  is  about  94  pounds,  the  average  ordinary 
wet  weight  is  126  pounds,  the  difference,  being  32 
pounds,  represents  the  average  weight  of  water  per  cubic 
foot.  Now,  multiplying  43,560  square  feet  in  the  acre 
by  32,  gives  1,393,920  pounds  to  the  acre  one  foot  deep, 
and  dividing  by  12  to  ascertain  the  weight  of  one  inch, 
we  have  116,160  pounds,  or  about  58  tons  of  water 

54 


Relations  of  Water  to  the  Soil.  55 

falling  on  an  acre  of  ground  in  the  shape  of  dew  in  a 
single  night.  Of  course  that  quantity  represents  the 
highest  possible  absorptive  quality  in  a  heavily  charged 
vegetable  soil.  Other  soils  would  receive  a  less  quantity 
as  will  be  readily  understood,  but  there  is  enough  to 
be  equivalent  to  quite  a  smart  shower  and  worth  en- 
couraging. 

In  what  are  known  as  "dry"  climates  there  is 
always  some  moisture  in  the  atmosphere  which  is  de- 
posited upon  the  soil,  for  wherever  there  are  oxygen 
and  hydrogen  there  must  be  moisture.  But  the  quan- 
tities vary  in  climates  as  much  as  they  do  in  soils. 
Where  there  is  evaporation  from  the  soil  moisture  dur- 
ing the  day  there  is  also  a  re-absorption  of  moisture  by 
the  soil  at  night  and,  with  this  fact  in  mind,  it  may  be 
laid  down  as  an  axiom:  The  tendency  of  water  is  to 
evaporate  from  the  soil  into  the  atmosphere  during  the 
day  and  to  fall  back  upon  the  soil  during  the  night.  To 
reduce  the  idea  to  an  axiom :  A  dry  soil  has  an  affinity 
for  a  moist  atmosphere,  and  a  dry  atmosphere  loves  a 
moist  soil. 

SATURATION  AND  POWER  TO  RETAIN  MOISTURE. 

The  rain  falls  and  is  drunk  in  by  the  thirsty  soil ; 
the  dew  descends  and  is  absorbed,  and  the  waters  of 
irrigation  poured  upon  the  ground  quickly  disappear. 
But  after  much  water  falls  upon  the  earth  the  latter  be- 
comes saturated,  can  hold  no  more,  and  the  surplus 
runs  off  the  surface  or  sinks  down  through  until  it 
reaches  the  water  table.  This  happens  more  speedily 
in  some  soils  than  in  others.  Thus,  100  pounds  of  dry 
soils,  as  here  specified,  will  hold  the  quantity  of  water 
set  opposite  their  respective  names  without  dripping  or 
running  off. 

Quartz  sand   25  pounds 

Calcareous  sand  29  pounds 

Loamy  soil  40  pounds 

Clay  loam 50  pounds 

Pure   clay    70  pounds 


56  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

But  dry,  peaty  soils  and  adobe  will  absorb  a  much 
larger  proportion  before  becoming  saturated  to  the  drip- 
ping point;  sometimes  such  soils  will  absorb  their  own 
weight  of  water.  Arable  soils  generally  will  hold  from 
forty  to  seventy  per  cent  of  their  weight  of  water. 

This  power  of  retaining  water  renders  such  a  soil 
valuable  in  dry  climates.  But  the  more  water  the  soil 
contains  in  its  pores  the  greater  the  evaporation  and 
the  colder  it  is  likely  to  be.  Indeed,  evaporation  is  a 
source  of  cold,  sometimes  to  so  great  a  degree  that  ice 
will  be  formed.  In  very  hot  regions  in  India  where 
ice  is  inacessible  it  is  customary  to  place  small,  shallow 
saucers  filled  with  water  on  the  ground  after  nightfall, 
and  they  are  gathered  in  the  morning  before  sunrise, 
the  water  being  converted  into  ice  by  the  rapid  evapora- 
tion from  the  soil  during  the  night.  Our  modern  ice 
machines  owe  their  efficacy  for  making  ice  to  the  rapid 
evaporation  of  ammonia  under  pressure.  Ether,  chloro- 
form, alcohol,  and  numerous  other  substances,  produce 
a  sensation  of  cold  when  rubbed  on  the  skin,  which  is 
not  due  to  anything  in  those  substances,  but  wholly  to 
their  rapid  evaporation  or  volatility.  The  presence  of  a 
saturation  of  water  in  the  soil,  however,  excludes  the 
air  in  a  great  degree  and  thus  is  injurious  to  plants, 
whose  roots  must  have  air  as  well  as  moisture,  hence 
the  necesity  for  drainage  where  there  is  a  liability  to 
saturation. 

Unless  rain  or  dew  is  falling  or  the  air  is  saturated 
with  moisture,  watery  vapor  is  constantly  arising  from 
the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  fields,  after  the  heaviest 
rains  and  floods,  gradually  become  dry,  and  this  takes 
place  more  rapidly  in  some  fields  or  parts  of  fields  than 
in  others,  in  fact,  wet  and  dry  patches  of  ground  may  be 
seen  on  the  same  field,  indicating  a  heavy  or  light  soil. 
Generally  speaking,  those  soils  capable  of  containing 
the  largest  portion  of  the  rain  that  falls  also  retains  it 
with  greater  obstinacy  and  require  a  longer  time  to 
dry.  The  same  thing  happens  when  the  land  is  irri- 


Relations  of  Water  to  the  Soil.  5? 

gated.  Thus,  sand  will  become  as  dry  in  one  hour  as 
pure  clay  in  three,  or  peat  in  four  hours. 

There  is  one  fact  every  irrigator  should  constantly 
bear  in  mind  and  that  is :  Water  saturation  of  the  soil 
is  never  necessary  to  plant  life ;  it  is,  in  fact,  positively 
injurious  except  in  the  case  of  acquatic  plants.  A  long 
time  ago  men,  seeing  rice  growing  luxuriantly  in 
swamps,  imagined  that  plant  would  not  grow  anywhere 
else,  and,  accordingly,  rice  culture  meant  a  swamp.  But 
it  was  discovered  that  rice  would  grow  better  and  pro- 
duce a  larger  and  richer  crop  in  arable  soil  generally, 
and  now  it  is  cultivated  with  astonishing  success  the 
same  as  wheat,  barley,  or  any  other  cereal,  except  for 
a  short  period  of  flooding. 

Nature,  through  heavy  rains  and  other  water 
sources,  converts  the  soil  into  a  storage  reservoir  by 
establishing  a  water  table  beneath  the  surface  from 
which  the  water  vaporizing  up  constantly  moistens  the 
growing  stratum  of  the  soil,  decomposes  and  dissolves 
the  salts  which  are  necessary  to  plant  life,  and  is  itself 
decomposed  by  the  principle  of  life  in  the  plant  and 
its  elements,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  and  nitrogen,  utilized 
in  the  interior  of  the  plant  itself.  Where  there  is  no 
natural  supply  of  water  for  this  storage  purpose  irriga- 
tion must  copy  nature  and  provide  one,  or  at  least 
furnish  an  adequate  supply  of  moisture  for  solvent  pur- 
poses. When  that  has  been  done  everything  has  been 
done  that  should  be  done. 

A  familiar  illustration  of  the  action  of  moisture 
may  be  witnessed  in  the  slaking  of  lime  in  the  open  air 
without  the  direct  application  of  water.  The  same 
transformation  takes  place  in  the  case  of  all  the  other 
soluble  mineral  salts  when  in  the  presence  of  moisture. 
This  transformation  effected,  the  plant  thrives,  and,  to 
give  it  an  excess  of  dissolving  liquid  is  to  float  off  the 
material  needed  by  the  plant  and  thus  deprive  it  of  its 
nourishment.  It  is  like  feeding  an  infant  on  thin, 
weak  soup  instead  of  nourishing  bouillon  and  expecting 
it  to  thrive. 


W  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

EVAPORATION     FROM     PLANTS. 

The  tendency  of  plants  is  to  exhale  or  perspire 
moisture  as  well  as  the  soil.  The  flow  of  the  sap  is  con- 
stant from  the  roots  to  the  leaves  to  receive  oxygen  and 
carbonic  acid  and  back  again  to  the  roots;  like  the 
circulation  of  the  blood  in  animals  it  travels  in  a  cir- 
cuit. When  the  sap  reaches  the  leaves  it  parts  with  a 
portion  of  its  water,  and  in  some  plants  the  quantity  is 
very  considerable.  An  experiment  with  a  sunflower, 
three  and  one-half  feet  high,  disclosed  the  fact  that  its 
leaves  lost  during  twelve  hours  of  one  day,  30,  and  of 
another,  20  ounces  of  water,  while  during  a  warm  night, 
without  dew,  it  lost  only  three  ounces,  and,  on  a  dewy 
night,  lost  none. 

All  this  evaporation  or  exhalation  of  water  from 
the  leaves  of  plants  is  supplied  by  the  moisture  in  the 
soil,  for  plants  generally  do  not  drink  in  water  through 
their  leaves  but  through  their  roots,  and  when  the 
escape  of  water  from  the  leaves  is  more  rapid  than  the 
supply  from  the  roots  the  leaves  droop,  dry  and  wither, 
because  then  they  are  drawing  from  their  sap,  living, 
so  to  speak,  upon  their  own  blood.  This  evaporation 
in  the  plant  is  similar  to  the  perspiration  constantly 
exuding  from  the  skins  of  healthy  animals  and  it  has 
added  to  it  the  mechanical  evaporation  which  takes 
place  on  the  surface  of  all  moist  bodies  when  exposed  to 
hot  or  dry  air.  There  can  be  no  growth  or  health 
without  it,  hence,  it  is  often  beneficial  to  wash  or  spray 
the  leaves  of  plants  and  trees  to  remove  the  dust  or 
other  clogging  material  that  has  accumulated  upon  the 
leaves  and  "stopped  perspiration."  To  stop  this  leaf 
evaporation  is  to  kill  the  plant  as  surely  as  was  killed 
the  boy  in  the  Eoman  pageant.  His  entire  body  was 
covered  with  a  thick  coating  of  gum  arabic,  on  which 
was  laid  a  layer  of  gold  leaf,  the  intention  being  to 
have  him  pose  as  a  golden  statue.  He  died  in  a 
few  hours  and  it  was  not  until  the  cause  of  his  sudden 
death  was  investigated  by  scientific  men  that  it  was 


Relations  of  Water  to  the  Soil.  69 

discovered  that  the  closing  of  the  pores  of  the  skin, 
thereby  preventing  evaporation  from  its  surface,  was 
the  cause.  On  dry,  dusty  soils,  where  there  is  none,  or 
very  little  rainfall,  the  accumulation  of  dew  during  the 
night  is  generally  sufficient  to  "trickle"  along  the  leaves 
and  carry  down  the  dust  and  other  accumulations  on 
the  leaves  which  interfere  with  evaporation.  Some- 
times the  plant,  as  if  aware  that  there  is  a  stoppage 
in  its  circulation,  will  throw  out  fresh,  new  leaves  to 
cure  the  defect,  but  this  is  done  at  the  expense  of  the 
root,  tuber,  or  fruit. 

The  amount  of  loss  due  to  natural  and  mechanical 
evaporation  from  plants,  of  course,  differs  very  greatly 
in  the  various  species  of  plants  depending,  in  a  great 
measure,  on  the  special  structure  of  the  leaf,  whether 
fine  or  coarse  meshed,  large  or  small,  lean  or  fleshy, 
the  natural  perspiration,  however,  always  exceeding  the 
mechanical.  Both  processes,  moreover,  are  more  rapid 
under  the  influence  of  a  warm,  dry  atmosphere  aided 
by  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun. 

As  showing  the  quantity  of  evaporation  an  experi- 
ment was  tried  with  an  acre  of  maple  trees  containing 
640  trees.  The  calculation  is  not  positively  exact,  but 
it  is  worth  accepting  as  a  basis  for  other  experiments 
on  crops  of  all  kinds  and  may  come  somewhere  near 
enabling  the  irrigator  to  determine  the  quantity  of 
water  to  be  applied  to  the  soil,  whether  there  is  a  water 
table  within  the  reach  of  the  surface  or  none  at  all. 

The  evaporation  was  assumed  to  take  place  only 
during  a  day  of  twelve  hours  and  each  of  the  640  trees 
was  estimated  as  carrying  21,192  leaves.  From  an  esti- 
mate based  on  the  quantity  of  evaporation  from  one  tree 
containing  the  number  of  leaves  above  specified,  which 
were  carefully  counted,  the  640  trees  evaporated  from 
their  leaves  in  twelve  hours  3,875  gallons  of  water,  or 
31,000  pounds.  During  ninety-two  twelve-hour  days, 
the  life  of  the  maple  leaf,  the  evaporation  would  amount 
to  2,852,000  pounds.  During  that  period  the  rainfall 


«0  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

was  8.333  inches  or  43.8  pounds  to  every  square  foot 
of  surface,  equal,  per  acre  of  43,560  square  feet,  to 
1,890,504  pounds.  The  evaporation  from  the  leaves 
of  the  trees,  therefore,  exceeded  that  of  the  actual  fall 
of  rain  by  nearly  one  million  pounds.  Whence  did  the 
surplus  come?  Evidently  from  the  water  stored  in 
the  water  table  and  drawn  up  by  the  action  of  the  roots 
of  the  trees.  Where  there  is  no  water  table  or  ground 
water  and  the  soil  is  dry  "all  the  way  down,"  it  is 
necessary  to  create  one  by  irrigation  and  this  is  not  so 
difficult  as  might  be  imagined,  for  we  must  consider 
that  in  the  case  of  maple  trees  the  roots  may  reach 
down  into  the  subsoil  for  fifty  feet,  and  in  the  case  of 
ordinary  fruits,  vegetables,  and  cereals,  a  water  table 
at  that  depth  would  be  wholly  unnecessary  even  if  gen- 
erally impracticable.  Soil  saturation  at  any  depth 
beyond  four  feet  with  unlimited  surface  cultivation  is 
sufficient,  although  in  the  case  of  vines  and  trees  it 
should  be  much  deeper. 

The  above  experiment  with  the  maple  trees  al- 
though, perhaps,  of  no  practical  value  on  account  of 
its  uncertainty,  being  more  or  less  guess,  demonstrates 
two  things,  when  there  is  also  taken  into  consideration 
the  quantity  of  sap  in  plants  and  the  amount  of  salts 
held  in  solution  in  it. 

First — How  easily  a  soil  may  be  exhausted  by  cut- 
ting and  removing  plants  and  crops  therefrom. 

Second — As  a  direct  corollary,  through  its  diametric 
opposite,  it  shows  how  easily  alkaline  salts  may  be  re- 
moved from  the  soil  by  cutting  and  removing  the  plants 
and  crops.  These  alkali-consuming  plants  hold  large 
quantities  of  the  earth  salts  in  their  sap  in  solution,  the 
carbonates,  sulphates,  the  sodas,  and  potash,  literally 
taken  up  out  of  the  soil.  Of  course,  when  removed  a 
certain  amount  of  alkali  is  removed  with  them.  This 
has  been  the  experience  with  the  "salt  meadows"  in 
Germany  and  Holland,  and  in  the  United  States,  as  has 
been  already  noted,  and,  in  a  small  way,  with  the  alkali 


Relations  of  Water  to  the  Soil.  61 

lands  of  the  West  where  the  experiment  has  been  made. 

CAPILLARY  POWER  OF  SOIL. 

When  water  is  poured  into  the  saucer  or  sole  of  a 
flower-pot  filled  with  earth  the  soil  gradually  sucks  it  up 
and  becomes  moist  even  to  the  surface.  This  is  what 
is  known  as  "capillary  action,"  and  exists  in  all  porous 
bodies  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  A  sponge  is  a  well- 
known  instance  of  this  power,  and  if  the  small  end  of  a 
piece  of  hard  chalk  be  held  in  water  the  entire  mass 
soon  becomes  saturated.  The  experiment  with  the 
flower-pot,  however,  represents  the  action  in  the  soil, 
the  water  from  beneath — that  contained  in  the  sub-soil 
— is  gradually  sucked  up  to  the  surface.  It  is  one  of 
the  operations  of  the  laws  of  nature  which  maintains 
all  things  in  constant  motion  to  preserve  their  life  and 
vitality,  for,  if  permitted  to  remain  at  rest  without 
motion,  they  sicken  and  die,  afterward  putrefying  as 
happens  even  with  water  which  becomes  stagnant,  that 
is,  ceases  to  be  in  motion. 

In  climates  where  there  is  winter,  or  even  a  moder- 
ate degree  of  cold  weather,  this  capillary  action  ceases 
and  the  tendency  of  the  water  is  to  "soak"  downward, 
and  it  is  not  until  warm  weather  that  capillary  action 
begins  and  the  water  commences  "soaking"  upward 
toward  the  surface.  In  a  warm,  or  hot  climate,  this 
action  is  constant  and  it  also  takes  place  whenever  the 
soil  is  parched  or  dry. 

This  suspension  of  capillary  action  in  winter,  or 
cold  weather,  furnishes  a  strong  point  in  favor  of  winter 
irrigation,  which  really  takes  the  place  of  the  autumn 
and  spring  rains,  and  of  the  snow  that  slowly  melts 
and  its  waters  carried  down  into  the  soil  to  the  water 
table  ready  to  begin  an  upward  movement  when  the 
weather  becomes  warm  and  the  surface  soil  dry. 

The  dryer  the  soil  and  the  hotter  the  atmosphere, 
the  more  rapid  is  the  rising  of  the  water  to  the  surface 
by  capillary  attraction,  and,  as  the  water  ascends,  it  car- 
ries along  with  it  the  saline  mattersjjissqlved  by  it  and, 


62  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

reaching  the  surface,  evaporates,  leaving  the  salts  it 
carried  behind.  It  is  this  capillary  action  which  has  in- 
crusted  our  own  lands  with  alkalis  of  all  kinds ;  it  is  the 
same  in  India,  Egypt,  South  Africa,  and  elsewhere. 
On  the  arid  plains  of  Peru,  and  on  extensive  tracts  in 
South  Africa,  alkali  deposits,  several  feet  in  thickness, 
are  sometimes  met  with,  all  of  which  are  caused  by  the 
capillary  action  of  water  bringing  up  to  the  surface 
the  salts  in  the  subsoil.  So  it  is  that  the  enormous  beds 
of  nitrate  of  soda  in  Peru  and  those  of  the  carbonate  of 
soda  in  Colombia  were  created;  and  in  our  own  black 
and  white  alkali  and  sodium  bad  lands  capillary  action 
may  be  blamed  for  their  condition.  It  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  wherever  there  is  seepage  there  is  also  cap- 
illary action,  for  that  power  is  exercised  in  every  direc- 
tion. It  does  not  matter  which  end  of  the  sponge  or 
piece  of  chalk  is  held  to  the  water,  both  become  sat- 
urated. It  may  be  said  that  capillary  action  is  a  viola- 
tion of  the  law  of  gravity,  or,  rather,  is  a  law  of  itself 
acting  independently. 

This  tendency  of  water  to  ascend  to  the  surface  of 
the  earth  is  not  the  same  in  all  soils.  It  is  less  rapid 
in  stiff  clays  and  more  rapid  in  sandy  and  open,  porous 
soils  generally,  and  it  is  of  especial  importance  in  rela- 
tion to  the  position  of  the  water  table  in  the  soil  when 
considered  as  a  source  of  water  supply  or  shallow  root- 
ing plants.  Gravity  draws  the  water  downward  toward 
a  water  table,  and  in  a  dry  subsoil  it  is  capillary  attrac- 
tion that  impels  it  down.  But  when  the  water  in  the 
surface  soil  is  less  than  that  below  an  upward  movement 
begins  as  though  nature  were  desirous  of  maintaining 
an  equilibrium  which,  scientifically  speaking,  it  always 
does,  or  attempts  to  do.  However,  there  is  a  zone  of 
capillary  action,  a  space  between  the  water  table  and  the 
surface,  in  which  moisture  rises  and  with  it  carries 
food  substances  to  the  roots  of  plants.  Where  the  water  it- 
self rises  it  means  more  than  capillary  attraction,  it  means 
a  rise  of  the  water  table  through  additions  from  some 


Relations  of  Water  to  the  Soil.  63 

new  water  supply  or  saturation  of  the  soil,  in  which 
case  plants  are  injured  vitally  and  drainage  must  come 
to  the  rescue.  It  is  the  rise  of  the  water  table  that  is 
to  be  feared  in  irrigation.  The  reason  is  because  the 
rise  of  alkaline  solutions  is  greater  than  in  the  case  of 
pure  water.  Thus,  a  50  per  cent  solution  of  sodium 
chloride  (common  salt)  and  sodium  sulphate  will  rise 
faster  than  pure  water,  and  a  much  stronger  concentra- 
tion of  soda  carbonate  will  rise  still  faster.  Hence 
the  necessity  of  preventing  soil  saturation  and  the  main- 
taining of  a  zone  of  capillary  action,  in  which  the  roots 
of  plants  may  be  fed  by  material  furnished  through 
that  action  when  they  would  be  killed  if  saturation 
were  permitted  to  overcome  it. 

A  few  practical  ideas  may  be  gathered  from  the 
foregoing  which  are  worth  considering: 

First — It  is  evident  that  deep  plowing  will  enable 
the  rainfall  or  the  irrigation  water  to  penetrate  deeper 
into  the  soil,  in  which  case  it  will  remain  longer  and  the 
effects  of  a  small  quantity  of  rain  may  extend  over  a 
period  long  enough  to  mature  a  crop  where  half  as 
much  again  would  show  nothing. 

Second — To  be  effective  and  beneficial  to  vegeta- 
tion the  water  in  the  subsoil  must  be  in  constant  motion. 
When  water  ceases  to  flow  in  the  subsoil  streams,  or 
when  capillary  action  is  entirely  suspended,  the  water 
becomes  stagnant,  ceases  to  imbibe  oxygen,  nitrogen  and 
carbonic  acid,  and  practically  rots,  causing  vegetation 
within  its  influence  also  to  decay.  Running  water  com- 
ing from  the  clouds  or  irrigating  ditch  enters  the  soil 
charged  with  gaseous  matters  above  specified,  mixed  in 
their  proper  proportions,  and  carries  along  with  it  vari- 
ous dissolved  inorganic  substances  which  are  not  per- 
mitted to  be  deposited  out  of  it  while  it  is  in  motion. 
Hence,  to  derive  the  full  benefit  of  the  water,  the  land 
must  be  drained  even  where  irrigation  is  practiced,  so 
that  the  surplus  water,  after  irrigation  is  stopped,  may 
find  a  ready  outlet.  If  there  should  be  no  surplus,  no 


64  Tht  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

harm  is  done  by  drainage  facilities;  on  the  contrary, 
the  tendency  of  all  drainage  is  to  open  the  soil  below 
and  "draw"  the  moisture  from  above  as  well  as  to  carry 
off  the  surplus  water  in  a  soaked  subsoil  if  there  be  one. 
Drainage  does  not  carry  off  moisture,  but  only  the  sur- 
plus water;  capillary  attraction  will  always  hold  the 
moisture. 

Third — Whenever  sufficient  water  is  added  to  the 
soil  to  compensate  for  loss  by  evaporation  from  soil 
and  plant,  the  business  of  the  irrigator  is  accomplished. 
To  keep  on  adding,  to  soak  the  soil  continually,  would 
be  to  injure  vegetation  as  much  as  by  furnishing  too 
little  water,  as  it  is  only  by  keeping  the  surface  soil 
loose  and  finely  pulverized — the  deeper  the  better — that 
evaporation  from  the  soil  may  be  retarded. 

As  to  the  quality  of  the  water  the  more  impure  it 
is,  particularly  in  organic  matter,  the  better  it  is  for 
vegetation.  There  is  no  more  impure  water  in  the  world 
than  that  of  the  river  Nile,  yet  it  gives  fertility  and  pro- 
duces luxuriant  vegetation  where  there  would  be  barren- 
ness and  sterility  were  it  pure.  The  exception  in  the 
case  of  irrigating  alkali  lands  would  be  water  heavily 
charged  with  alkali  salts,  this  kind  of  water  being  one 
of  the  causes  of  deleterious  alkali  deposits. 

THE  SOIL  AND  THE  ATMOSPHERE. 

The  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere  is  essential  to  the 
germination  of  the  seed  and  to  the  growth  of  the  plant. 
The  whole  plant  must  have  air,  the  roots  as  well  as 
the  leaves,  therefore  it  is  of  consequence  that  this  oxy- 
gen should  have  access  to  every  part  of  the  soil  and 
thus  to  all  the  roots.  This  can  only  be  effected  by 
working  the  land  and  rendering  it  sufficiently  porous. 

Some  soils  absorb  oxygen  faster  and  in  greater 
quantities  than  others.  Clays  absorb  more  than  sandy 
soils,  and  vegetable  molds  or  peats  more  than  clay. 
It  depends,  however,  upon  their  condition  as  to  por- 
osity, and  also  upon  their  chemical  constitution.  If  the 


Relations  of  Water  to  the  Soil.  85 

clay  contains  iron  or  manganese  in  the  state  of  oxides 
these  latter  will  naturally  absorb  oxygen  in  large  quan- 
tities for  the  purpose  of  combining  with  it,  having 
a  great  affinity  therefor,  while  a  soil  containing  much 
decaying  vegetable  matter  will  also  drink  in  large  quan- 
tities of  oxygen  to  aid  the  natural  decomposition  con- 
stantly going  on. 

In  addition  to  absorbing  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  of 
which  the  air  principally  consists,  the  soil  also  absorbs 
carbonic  acid  and  portions  of  other  vapors  floating  in 
it  whether  ammonia  or  nitric  acid.  This  absorption  of 
atmospheric  elements  and  gases  of  every  kind  occurs 
most  easily  and  in  greater  abundance  when  the  soil 
is  in  a  moist  state.  Hence  it  is  that  the  fall  of  rains 
and  the  descent  of  dew,  or  the  application  of  irriga- 
tion water,  favors  this  absorption  in  dry  seasons  and 
in  dry  climates;  it  will  also  be  greatest  in  those  soils 
which  have  the  power  of  most  readily  extracting  wa- 
tery vapor  from  the  air  during  the  absence  of  the  sun. 
It  must  be  clear  from  this  that  the  influence  of  dews 
and  gentle  showers  reaches  much  farther  than  the 
surface  of  the  soil,  watery  vapor  following  the  atmos- 
phere down  deep  into  the  soil,  penetrating  as  deep  as 
the  porous  nature  of  the  soil  will  permit  it.  Some  say 
that,  under  proper  conditions  as  to  cultivation,  the 
soil  will  gain  in  dew  at  night  nearly  as  much  as  it 
loses  by  evaporation  during  the  day.  It  appears  rea- 
sonable enough  to  suppose  that  the  atmosphere,  under 
a  pressure  of  fifteen  pounds  to  the  square  inch,  will 
penetrate  to  any  depth  and  carry  with  it  whatever  of 
moisture  and  gases  it  contains. 

THE  SOIL  AND  THE  SUN. 

In  addition  to  the  chemical  effect  of  sunlight  upon 
plants  the  rays  of  the  sun  beating  down  upon  the  earth 
impart  to  the  soil  a  degree  of  heat  much  higher  than 
that  of  the  surrounding  atmosphere.  Sometimes  this 
soil  heat  rises  from  110  degrees  to  150  and  more,  while 


66  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

the  air  in  the  shade  is  between  70  and  80  degrees,  a 
quantity  of  heat  most  favorable  to  rapid  growth.  The 
relations  between  the  heat  of  the  sun  and  the  color  of 
the  soil  is  of  little  importance  where  sunlight  abounds, 
although  in  some  locations  it  is  of  considerable  import- 
ance. This  has  already  been  alluded  to  and  all  that 
need  be  said  here  is  that  the  dark-colored  soils,  the 
black  and  the  brownish  reds,  absorb  the  heat  of  the 
sun  more  rapidly  than  the  light-colored,  for  which  rea- 
son, as  to  warmth,  the  dark  soils  more  rapidly  pro- 
mote vegetation  than  the  others. 

As  to  the  power  of  retaining  heat  it  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  sandy  soils  cool  more  slowly  than  clay, 
and  clay  more  slowly  than  peaty  soils,  or  those  rich 
in  vegetable  matter.  Vegetable  mold  will  cool  as  much 
in  one  hour  as  a  clay  in  two,  or  a  sandy  soil  in  three 
hours.  That  is,  after  the  sun  sets  the  sandy  soil  will 
be  three  hours  in  cooling,  the  clay  two,  and  the  soil 
rich  in  vegetable  matter,  one  hour.  It  is  also  inter- 
esting to  note  that  on  those  soils  which  cool  the  soon- 
est dew  will  first  begin  to  be  deposited. 

Man  possesses  very  little  power  over  the  relations 
between  the  soil  and  heat  other  than  growing  plants 
whose  abundance  of  leaves  and  luxuriant  growth  will 
shade  the  ground,  prevent,  or  retard  evaporation, 
and  enable  the  soil  to  maintain  a  uniform  heat,  or 
mixing  sand  with  less  heat-retaining  soils.  These  mat- 
ters are  of  more  importance  in  kitchen  garden  culture 
than  in  the  fields;  but  there  are  deep  valleys  among 
the  mountains  where  the  sun  rises  about  9  a.  m.  and 
sets  about  3  p.  m.,  and  in  these,  there  being  so  little 
scope  for  the  sun's  rays  and  the  soil  being  cool  for  a 
much  longer  period  than  it  is  warmed  by  the  sun,  the 
power  of  retaining  heat  would  render  one  soil  more 
valuable  and  favorable  to  plant  growth  than  a  soil 
less  retentive. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PLANT   FOODS  —  THEIR   NATURE  —  DISTRIBUTION  AND 
BFFECTS  IN   GENERAL. 

There  are  four  substances  which  are  essential  to 
all  plant  food;  without  them  few  plants  could  live, 
and  what  is  surprising,  they  form  a  very  large  portion 
of  every  plant  in  one  form  or  another.  These 
substances  are :  Carbon,  Oxygen,  Hydrogen  and  Nitro- 
gen. We  shall  take  them  up  in  rotation  and  briefly  ex- 
plain their  origin,  nature  and  action. 
CARBON. 

Carbon  is  generally  known  under  the  form  of 
coal,  any  kind  of  coal,  but  for  experimental  pur- 
poses it  is  usually  wood  charcoal  that  is  consid- 
ered the  nearest  approach  to  pure  carbon,  there 
being  none  except  the  diamond  which  can  be  called 
actually  pure  or  crystallized  carbon.  As  wood 
charcoal,  it  is  derived  from  willow,  pine,  box,  and  sev- 
eral other  woods,  burned  under  cover  so  as  to  prevent 
free  access  of  air,  and  its  manufacture  is  of  great  com- 
mercial importance,  kilns  for  its  creation  existing  in 
thousands  of  places  throughout  the  United  States, 
where  forests  abound  and  wood  is  in  plenty.  It  should 
be  borne  in  mind  that  this  carbon,  or  wood  charcoal, 
is  an  essential  element  of  the  plant,  inasmuch  as  it 
comes  out  of  it  by  burning.  Moreover  it  is  all  manu- 
factured in  the  plant,  extracted  as  part  of  its  food 
from  the  soil,  or  the  air. 

Heated  in  air,  charcoal,  or  carbon,  as  we  shall 
call  it  hereafter,  burns  with  little  flame,  and  is  slowly 
consumed,  leaving  only  a  white  ash,  the  rest  of  the 
carbon  disappearing  in  the  air.  It  is  not  lost,  how- 
ever, for  by  the  burning  it  is  converted  into  a  gas 
which  goes  by  the  name  of  "carbonic  acid,"  which 
ascends  and  mingles  with  the  atmosphere,  to  be  again 
absorbed  by  plants  to  manufacture  more  carbon,  or 

07 


68  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

rather  a  fresh  supply  of  charcoal.  This  carbonic  acid 
gas  is  deadly,  speedily  causing  death  if  breathed. 

Carbon  is  light  and  porous  and  floats  on  water,  but 
plumbago,  or  black  lead,  and  the  diamond,  which  are 
only  other  forms  of  carbon,  are  heavy  and  dense.  Both 
black  lead  and  the  diamond  when  burned  in  the  air  at 
a  high  temperature,  leave  only  a  very  little  white  ash, 
the  rest  being  converted  into  carbonic  acid  and  disap- 
pearing in  the  air  like  the  common  charcoal. 

Of  this  carbon,  all  vegetable  substances  contain  a 
very  large  proportion.  It  forms  from  40  to  50  per 
centum  by  weight  of  all  parts  of  dried  plants  cultivated 
for  the  food  of  animals  or  man,  and  the  part  it  per- 
forms in  the  economy  of  nature  is  therefore  very  im- 
portant. 

Light,  porous  charcoals  possess  several  notable 
properties  in  plant  culture: 

First — they  absorb  into  their  pores  large  quan- 
tities of  gaseous  substances  and  vapors  which  exist 
in  the  atmosphere.  Thus:  They  absorb  over  ninety 
times  their  bulk  of  ammonia;  fifty-five  times  their  bulk 
of  sulphuretted  hydrogen;  nine  times  their  bulk  of 
oxygen;  nearly  twice  their  bulk  of  hydrogen,  and 
absorb  sufficient  aqueous  vapor  to  increase  their  weight 
from  ten  to  twenty  per  centum. 

Second — They  separate  from  water,  decayed  ani- 
mal matters  and  coloring  substances  which  it  may 
hold  in  solution.  In  the  soil  they  absorb  from  rain, 
or  flowing  water,  organized  matters  of  various  kinds, 
and  yield  them  up  to  the  plants  growing  near  to 
contribute  to  their  growth. 

Third — They  absorb  disagreeable  odors  and  keep 
animal  and  vegetable  matter  sweet  when  in  contact 
with  it.  For  which  reason  vegetable  substances  con- 
taining much  water,  like  potatoes,  turnips,  etc.,  are 
better  preserved  by  the  aid  of  a  quantity  of  charcoal. 

Fourth — They  extract  from  water  a  portion  of  the 


Plant  Foods— Their  Nature,  Etc.  69 

saline  substances,  or  salts,  it  may  happen  to  have  in 
solution,  and  allow  it  to  escape  in  a  less  impure  form. 
The  decayed  (half  carbonized)  roots  of  grass,  which 
have  been  long  subjected  to  irrigation,  may  act  in 
one  or  all  of  these  ways,  on  the  more  or  less  impure 
water  with  which  they  are  irrigated,  and  thus  gradu- 
ally arrest  and  collect  the  materials  fitted  to  promote 
the  growth  of  the  coming  crop. 

OXYGEN. 

We  know  oxygen  only  in  its  gaseous  or  aeriform 
state,  although  it  may  be  liquefied,  and  even  converted 
into  a  solid  form  under  the  name  of  'liquid  air."  As 
a  gas  it  is  invisible  and  possesses  neither  color,  taste, 
nor  smell.  When  inhaled  in  a  pure  state  it  is  stim- 
ulating and  exciting  to  the  vital  functions,  but  used 
in  excess  it  causes  death.  Plants  refuse  to  grow  in 
pure  oxygen  gas  and  speedily  perish. 

It  exists  in  the  atmosphere  in  the  proportion  of 
21  per  centum  of  the  bulk  of  the  latter,  and  in  this 
state  and  proportion  it  is  necessary  to  the  existence 
of  animals  and  plants,  and  to  permit  combustion  every- 
where on  the  globe.  The  amount  of  it  in  water  will 
surprise  many  readers,  for  every  nine  pounds  of  water 
contains  eight  pounds  of  oxygen.  A  knowledge  of  this 
fact  will  cause  the  full  value  of  water  as  an  essential  to 
plant  growth  to  be  appreciated;  moreover,  water  pos- 
sesses the  power  of  absorbing  still  more  oxygen  from 
the  atmosphere  than  it  contains  naturally.  Thus,  water 
will  absorb  from  three  and  one-half  to  six  and  one-half 
parts  of  oxygen  to  one  hundred  parts  of  water.  Eain, 
spring  and  river  waters  always  contain  an  additional 
proportion  of  oxygen  which  they  have  absorbed  from 
the  atmosphere.  This  is  taken  up  in  the  soil,  for,  as  the 
water  trickles  through  the  soil  it  surrenders  the  oxygen 
to  the  plants  with  which  it  comes  in  contact,  and  min- 
isters to  their  growth  and  nourishment  in  various  ways 
to  be  hereafter  explained. 


70  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

But  the  quantitiy  of  oxygen  stored  in  solid  rocks 
is  still  more  remarkable.  Nearly  one-half  of  the  rocks 
which  compose  the  crust  of  the  earth,  of  every  solid  sub- 
stance we  see  around  us,  of  the  soils  which  are  daily 
cultivated,  and  much  more  than  one-half  of  the  weight 
.of  living  plants  and  animals,  consist  of  this  elementary 
body,  oxygen,  known  to  us  only  as  an  invisible,  im- 
ponderable, unperceivable  gas. 

HYDROGEN. 

Hydrogen  is  also  known  to  us  in  the  state  of  gas, 
and  like  oxygen  is  without  color,  taste,  or  smell.  It  is 
unknown  in  a  free  or  simple  state,  although  chemists 
have  succeeded  in  obtaining  it  in  small  quantities,  and 
is  not  so  abundant  as  either  carbon  or  oxygen.  It  forms  a 
small  percentage  of  the  weight  of  animal  and  vegetable 
substances,  and  constitutes  only  one-ninth  of  the  weight 
of  water.  With  the  exception  of  coal  and  mineral  oils 
known  as  "hydro-carbons,"  it  is  not  a  constituent  of 
any  of  the  large  mineral  masses  of  the  globe. 

It  does  not  support  life,  and  animals  and  plants 
introduced  into  it  speedily  die.  It  is  the  lightest  of 
all  known  substances,  being  fourteen  and  one-half  times 
lighter  than  air.  Water  absorbs  it  in  very  small  quan- 
tities, one  hundred  gallons  of  water  taking  up  no  more 
than  one  and  one-half  gallons  of  it. 

NITROGEN. 

This  substance  is  likewise  known  only  in  a  state 
of  gas.  It  exists  in  the  atmosphere  in  the  proportion 
of  seventy-nine  per  centum  of  its  entire  bulk,  and 
is  without  color,  taste,  ,or  smell.  It  is  lighter  than 
atmospheric  air  in  the  proportion  of  ninety-seven  and 
one-half  to  one  hundred,  and  is  deadly  in  its  pure  state 
to  both  animals  and  plants.  It  is  essential  in  the  at- 
mosphere we  breathe,  moderating  the  combustion  which 
would  ensue  if  the  air  were  pure  oxygen,  and  forms  a 
part  of  many  animal  and  some  vegetable  substances, 
but  does  not  enter,  except  in  small  proportions,  into 


Plant  Foods— Their  Nature,  Etc.  71 

mineral  masses.  It  is  less  abundant  than  any  of  the 
so-called  organic  elements,  but  it  performs  certain 
most  important  functions  in  reference  to  the  growth 
of  plants.  Spring  and  rain  water  absorb  it  as  they 
do  oxygen,  from  the  atmosphere,  and  bear  it  in  solu- 
tion to  the  roots  of  plants,  one  hundred  parts  of  water 
dissolving  about  one  and  one-half  to  four  per  centum 
of  the  gas. 

PROPORTIONS  OF  THE  FOREGOING  ELEMENTS  IN  PLANTS. 

Although  the  substances  of  plants  are  composed 
mainly  of  the  above  organic  elements,  they  exist  in 
very  different  proportions.  This  will  appear  from  the 
following  table  of  "dried"  plants,  taking  one  thousand 
parts  by  weight  as  the  standard: 

Clover  Grass,  Pota- 

Oats.     seed.     hay.    Peas.  Wheat,  toes. 

Carbon    

Hydrogen  . . . 

Oxygen   

Nitrogen   .... 
Ash    

1,000     1,000  1,000  1,000     1,000     1,000 

The  above  proportions  are  slightly  variable,  but 
the  figures  given  represent  nearly  the  relative  weights 
in  which  these  elementary  elements  enter  into  forms 
of  vegetable  matter.  Herbaceous  plants  generally  leave 
more  ash,  that  is,  inorganic  matter,  the  wood  of  trees 
and  the  different  parts  of  plants  yielding  unequal  quan- 
tities. 

HOW    ORGANIC    ELEMENTS     COMBINE    TO    FORM    PLANT 
FOODS. 

Carbon  being  a  solid,  and  insoluble  in  water,  can 
not  be  taken  up  through  the  pores  of  the  roots  of 
plants,  the  only  parts  with  which  it  can  come  in  con- 
tact. Hydrogen,  in  its  simple  state,  forms  no  part 


T2  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

of  the  food  of  plants  because  it  does  not  exist  in  the 
atmosphere  or  in  the  soil  in  any  appreciable  quan- 
tities. Oxygen  exists  in  the  atmosphere  in  the  gaseous 
state  and  may  be  inhaled  by  the  leaves  of  plants. 
Nitrogen  may  be  absorbed  by  the  leaves  of  living  plants, 
but  in  a  quantity  so  small  as  to  escape  detection. 
Horeover,  oxygen  and  nitrogen  being  soluble  in  water 
to  a  slight  degree,  may  also  be  absorbed  in  small  quan- 
tities along  with  the  water  taken  in  through  the  pores 
of  the  roots. 

But  this  absorption  by  the  plant  is  insufficient  to 
maintain  its  life  and  growth.  It  must  have  a  liberal 
supply  of  food  in  which  the  four  elements  specified 
form  a  large  percentage.  Now,  this  food  can  only 
be  obtained,  or  manufactured,  by  the  four  organic  ele- 
ments entering  into  mutual  combinations  to  form  what 
are  known  as  "chemical  compounds/'  It  is  these  chem- 
ical compounds  which  find  their  way  into  the  interior 
of  the  plant,  into  its  very  substance,  and  then  the 
plant  grows  and  reaches  maturity,  provided  these  chem- 
ical combinations  are  continued  during  its  period  of 
existence. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  atmosphere 
diffuses  itself  everywhere.  It  makes  its  way  into  every 
pore  of  the  soil,  carrying  with  it  its  oxygen,  carbonic 
acid  and  other  substances  it  may  be  charged  with,  to 
the  dead  vegetable  matter  and  to  every  living  root.  Its 
action  is  double:  Playing  among  the  leaves  and 
branches,  and  fondling  the  roots  by  mingling  with  the 
soil.  It  is  the  workman,  and  its  tools  are  its  gases, 
and  with  them  it  manufactures  out  of  the  raw  material 
it  finds  in  the  soil — that  is,  the  silica,  the  sulphur,  and 
other  inorganic  substances,  and  the  decayed  organic 
matter — chemical  combinations  which  the  plant  seizes, 
appropriates  and  digests. 

CHEMICAL  COMBINATIONS. 

When  common  table  salt  and  water  are  mixed  the 


Plant  Foods— Their  Nature,  Etc.  73 

salt  dissolves  and  disappears.  By  evaporating  the  wa- 
ter it  is  possible  to  recover  the  salt  in  the  same  form 
and  condition  as  it  was  at  first.  This  is  called  a 
"mechanical  combination,"  with  which  chemistry  has 
nothing  to  do,  and  which  would  not,  in  the  economy 
of  nature,  be  sufficient  as  a  plant  food,  although  such 
combinations  and  solutions  are  absorbed  by  the  plant — 
they  do  not  feed  it! 

But  when  limestone  is  put  into  a  kiln  and  burned 
it  is  changed  into  an  entirely  different  substance,  which 
is  called  "quicklime."  The  limestone  is  decomposed  by 
the  burning,  the  carbonic  acid  mixed  with  lime  is 
driven  off  by  the  heat,  and  lime  remains. 

So  when  sulphur  is  burned  in  the  air  it  is  all 
converted  into  a  white  vapor  of  an  unpleasant  odor, 
which  is  finally  absorbed  by  the  atmosphere  and  dis- 
appears. This  is  also  a  chemical  decomposition,  in 
which  the  sulphur  is  combined  with  the  oxygen  of 
the  atmosphere. 

To  cite  another  illustration,  it  may  be  said  that 
water  itself  is  a  chemical  compound  of  the  two  ele- 
mentary bodies,  oxygen  and  hydrogen. 

None  of  these  latter  are  mixtures  like  the  mix- 
ture of  salt  and  water,  but  elementary  bodies  united 
to  form  new  substances,  which,  as  has  been  said,  are 
called  "chemical  compounds,"  and  it  is  through  these 
chemical  combinations  that  all  plants  and  fruits  pos- 
sess their  various  peculiarities. 

The  number  of  compounds  which  the  four  organic 
elements  form  with  each  other  is  practically  unlim- 
ited, but  of  them,  a  very  few  only  minister  to  the 
growth  and  nourishment  of  plants.  Of  these  water, 
carbonic  acid,  ammonia,  and  nitric  acid  are  the  most 
important.  These  compounds  we  shall  take  up  in  their 
order,  a  knowledge  of  all  of  them  being  of  essential 
importance  in  agriculture. 


74  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

WATER. 

The  following  are  the  three  qualities  of  water  im- 
portant to  plant  life: 

First — A  solvent  power. 

Second — An  affinity  for  certain  solid  substances. 

Third — An  affinity  for  its  own  elements. 

First — Water  possesses  the  power  of  absorbing  the 
several  gases  of  which  the  atmosphere  is  composed,  and 
carries  them  to  the  roots  of  plants  whence  they  are 
taken  into  the  circulation. 

It  dissolves  many  solid  inorganic  substances,  earthy 
and  saline,  and  conveys  them  in  a  fluid  form  to  the 
roots  of  plants,  .which  enables  them  to  ascend  with  the 
sap.  It  also  takes  up  substances  of  organic  origin, 
such  as  portions  of  decayed  animal  and  vegetable  mat- 
ter, and  likewise  brings  them  within  reach  of  the  roots. 

When  warm  the  solvent  powers  of  water  over  solid 
substances  is  very  much  increased,  a  fact  which  ac- 
counts for  the  luxuriant  vegetation  in  the  tropical  and 
semi-tropical  regions,  and  in  what  are  known  as  "warm 
soils." 

Second — Water  exhibits  a  remarkable  affinity  for 
solid  substances.  A  familiar  instance  is  mixing  water 
with  quick  lime.  The  lime  heats,  cracks,  swells,  and 
finally  becomes  a  white  powder.  This  is  familiarly 
known  as  "slaking"  lime.  When  thoroughly  slaked,  the 
lime  will  be  found  to  be  one-third  heavier  than  before. 
Every  three  tons  of  lime,  therefore,  absorb  one  ton 
of  water;  hence,  if  four  tons  of  slaked  lime  is  put 
upon  land  one  ton  of  water  is  also  mixed  in  the  soil. 

Water  has  an  affinity  for  clay,  the  hottest  sum- 
mer seldom  robbing  the  clay  of  its  water,  enough  be- 
ing retained  to  keep  wheat  green  and  flourishing  when 
plants  on  lighter  soils  are  drooping  and  burning  up. 

An  affinity  for  water  causes  vegetable  matter  to 
combine  chemically  with  it,  but  in  the  case  of  a  porous 
soil  the  water  is  merely  "drunk  in"  mechanically  and 


Plant  Foods— Their  Nature,  Etc.  75 

it  is  retained  unchanged  in  the  pores  of  the  soil,  whence 
it  may  be  evaporated  out,  as  related  in  the  last  chapter, 
but  not  where  there  has  been  a  chemical  transforma- 
tion. This  is  a  fact  that  should  be  remembered  in 
applying  mixtures  of  vegetable  matter  to  the  soil  by 
way  of  fertilization.  A  mere  mechanical  mixture  is  of 
little  effect;  there  must  be  a  chemical  transformation 
provided  for.  And  it  should  also  not  be  forgotten  that 
water  itself  is  capable  of  a  chemical  change  whereby  its 
qualities  are  preserved  and  retained  much  longer,  in- 
deed, than  if  merely  poured  upon  the  soil  as  a  mechan- 
ical attempt  to  assist  plant  growth. 

Third — Water  possesses  an  affinity  for  its  own  ele- 
ments, and  this  fact  exercises  a  material  influence  on 
the  growth  and  production  of  all  vegetable  substances. 
In  the  interior  of  plants,  as  in  animals,  water  undergoes 
continual  decomposition  and  re-composition.  In  its 
fluid  state  it  finds  its  way  into  every  vessel  and  every 
tissue.  In  this  situation  the  water  yields  its  oxygen  to 
one  portion  of  the  plant  and  its  hydrogen  to  another 
portion,  wherever  either  is  needed,  and,  in  like  manner, 
the  oxygen  and  the  hydrogen  resume  their  combination 
as  water  and  cling  together  until  a  new  chemical  change 
is  needed.  To  comprehend  this  better  the  reader  has 
only  to  observe  the  effects  of  water  on  his  own  system, 
for,  as  between  plants  and  animals,  the  transmutations 
of  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  conveyed  into  the  system  by 
means  of  water,  are  practically  identical. 

We  shall  have  more  to  say  upon  this  subject  in  the 
chapter  on  the  advantages  of  irrigation. 

CARBONIC   ACID. 

Carbonic  acid,  as  has  been  said,  is  the  gas 
from  burned  charcoal,  or  carbon.  It  has  an  acid 
taste  and  smell,  is  soluble  in  water,  and  reddens  vege- 
table blues.  Water  dissolves  more  than  its  own  bulk 
of  this  gas.  It  is  one-half  heavier  than  atmospheric 
air,  and  is  deadly  in  its  effects.  Yet  it  is  the  principal 


76  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

food  of  plants,  being  absorbed  by  the  leaves  and  roots 
in  large  quantities,  hence  its  presence  in  the  atmos- 
phere is  necessary  to  plant  growth,  though  the  pro- 
portion is  small. 

Carbonic  acid  unites  with  potash,  soda  and  lime, 
forming  compounds  known  as  "carbonates."  Thus 
pearlash  is  carbonate  of  potash;  the  common  soda  of 
the  shops  is  carbonate  of  soda,  and  limestone,  or  chalk, 
is  carbonate  of  lime.  The  common  carbonate  of  lime, 
in  its  various  forms  of  chalk,  limestone,  or  marble,  is 
insoluble  in  pure  water,  but  it  dissolves  readily  in 
water  containing  carbonic  acid.  We  know  that  water 
absorbs  a  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  from  the  atmos- 
phere, and  hence  as  it  trickles  through  the  soils  con- 
taining limestone,  etc.,  it  dissolves  a  portion  of  the 
earth  and  carries  it  in  its  progress  to  the  roots  of  the 
plants,  where  the  earthy  solution  is  used  directly  or  in- 
directly to  promote  vegetable  growth. 

As  to  its  absorption  by  water,  a  reference  to  a 
common  glass  of  soda  water  will  be  sufficient  to  make 
this  clear. 

Some  plants  manufacture  their  own  acids  out  of 
the  carbonic  acid — distinctive  acids — for  instance,  ox- 
alic acid,  which  is  found  in  the  leaves  and  stems  of  the 
common  sorrel  (oxalis) .  It  is  an  acid  not  found  in  the 
soil  and  may  be  obtained  from  sugar,  starch  and  even 
from  wood  by  various  chemical  processes,  principally 
by  the  use  of  nitric  acid.  To  detail  all  the  uses  to  which 
carbonic  acid  may  be  put  would  be  going  deep  into 
chemistry,  which  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  book. 
However,  vegetable  acids  will  be  referred  to  in  the  next 
chapter. 

AMMONIA. 

Ammonia  is  a  compound  of  hydrogen  and  nitrogen, 
and  performs  a  very  important  part  in  the  process  of 
vegetation.  It  promotes  not  only  the  rapidity  and  lux- 
uriance of  vegetation;  but  exercises  a  powerful  control 


Plant  Foods— Their  Nature,  Etc.  77 

over  the  functions  of  vegetable  life.  It  possesses  sev- 
eral special  properties  which  bear  upon  the  preparation 
of  plant  food. 

First — It  has  a  powerful  affinity  for  acid  sub- 
stances, and  unites  with  them  in  the  soil,  forming  saline 
compounds  or  "salts,"  which  are  more  or  less  essential 
to  vegetable  life. 

Second — It  possesses  a  very  strong  affinity  for 
the  acids  of  potash,  soda,  lime  and  magnesia.  When 
mixed  with  these  acids  the  acid  in  the  salt  of  am- 
monia (sal  ammoniac)  for  instance,  is  taken  up  by 
the  potash,  etc.,  and  the  ammonia  is  set  free  in  a 
gaseous  state.  This  is  the  effect  of  lime  dressing  on 
a  soil  rich  in  animal  and  vegetable  matter;  it  de- 
composes the  salts,  particularly  those  of  ammonia. 

Third — The  salts  which  ammonia  forms  with  the 
acids  are  all  very  soluble  in  water,  and  thus  ammonia 
is  brought  down  to  the  roots  of  plants  for  their  use. 

Fourth. — In  the  state  of  carbonate  it  decomposes 
gypsum,  forming  carbonate  of  lime  (chalk)  and  sul- 
phate of  ammonia,  both  of  which  are  peculiarly  favor- 
able to  vegetation. 

Fifth — The  presence  of  ammonia  in  a  soil  con- 
taining animal  and  vegetable  matter  in  a  decaying 
state  causes  this  matter  to  attract  oxygen  from  the 
air  with  great  rapidity  and  in  abundance,  the  result 
being  that  organic  acid  compounds  are  formed  which 
combine  with  the  ammonia  to  form  ammoniacal  salts. 
On  the  decomposition  of  these  latter  salts  by  the  action 
of  lime  or  other  of  the  affinities  above  mentioned,  the 
organic  acids  separated  from  them  are  always  further 
advanced  toward  the  state  in  which  they  become  fit 
for  plant  foods. 

Sixth — The  most  important  property  of  ammonia 
is  the  ease  with  which  its  salts  undergo  decomposition, 
either  in  the  air,  in  the  soil,  or  in  the  interior  of 
plants,  a  peculiarity  which  is  possessed  by  water,  as 


78  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

has  been  said.  In  the  interior  of  the  plant  ammonia 
separates  into  its  constituent  elements '  as  freely  as 
water.  The  hydrogen  it  contains  in  so  large  a  quan- 
tity is  always  ready  to  separate  itself  from  the  nitrogen, 
and  so,  in  concert  with  the  other  organic  elements  in- 
troduced into  the  plant  through  the  roots  or  the  leaves, 
it  aids  in  producing  the  different  solid  bodies  of  which 
the  several  parts  of  the  plant  are  made  up.  The  nitro- 
gen also  becomes  fixed,  that  is,  "permanent"  in  the  col- 
ored petals  of  the  flowers,  in  the  seeds,  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  plant  it  passes  off  in  the  form  of  new  com- 
pounds, in  the  insensible  form  of  perspiration,  or  in 
perfumed  exhalations  of  the  plant. 

NITRIC  ACID. 

This  acid  consists  of  nitrogen  combined  with  oxy- 
gen, and  never  occurs  in  nature  in  a  free  state,  but  is 
found  in  many  semi-tropical  regions  in  combination 
with  potash,  soda  and  lime,  in  what  are  known  as  "ni- 
trates." They  are  all,  like  the  salts  of  ammonia,  very 
soluble  in  water,  those  of  soda,  lime  and  magnesia  at- 
tracting moisture  from  the  air,  and  in  a  damp  atmos- 
phere gradually  assume  a  liquid  form.  Saltpeter  is  a 
-compound  of  nitric  acid  with  potash  (nitrate  of  potash), 
and  it  may  sometimes  be  used  as  an  influential  agent 
in  promoting  vegetation.  Like  the  acid  itself,  these 
nitrates,  when  present  in  large  quantities,  are  destruc- 
tive of  vegetation,  and  are  frequently  the  cause,  in  arid 
and  semi-arid  regions,  of  utter  barrenness,  the  nitrous 
incrustations  accumulating  upon  the  surface  of  the  soil. 
In  small  quantities,  however,  they  exercise  an  important 
and  salutary  influence  on  the  rapidity  of  growth. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PLANT   FOODS — CEREALS — FORAGE   PLANTS — FRUITS — 
VEGETABLES — ROOT  CROPS. 

Plants  of  every  variety  are  very  hearty  feeders 
as  a  rule ;  in  fact,  if  a  plant  be  furnished  with  un- 
limited quantities  of  its  proper  food,  and  the  environ- 
ments of  soil  and  climate  are  favorable,  it  will  increase 
its  bulk  to  enormous  dimensions;  the  case  is  the  same 
with  fruits. 

Sir  Humphrey  Davy  introduced  plants  of  mint 
into  weak  solutions  of  sugar,  gum,  jelly,  etc.,  and 
found  that  they  grew  vigorously  in  all  of  them.  He 
then  watered  separate  spots  of  grass  with  the  same 
several  solutions,  and  with  common  water,  and  found 
that  those  watered  with  the  solutions  throve  more  lux- 
uriantly than  those  treated  with  ordinary  water.  From 
this  it  may  be  reasonably  inferred  that  different  or- 
ganic substances  are  taken  into  the  circulation  of  plants 
and  then  converted  by  them  into  its  own  substance, 
or  acts  as  food  and  nourishes  the  plant.  Of  course, 
it  will  be  understand  that  by  "plant  foods"  are  meant 
whatever  material  tends  to  make  the  plant  grow  to 
maturity. 

We  have  learned  that  plants  absorb  carbon  in  the 
shape  of  carbonic  acid,  and  the  part  ammonia  plays  in 
the  plant  economy.  Indeed,  ammonia  is  actually  pres- 
ent in  the  juices  of  many  plants,  for  example:  in 
beet  roots,  birch  and  maple  trees,  etc.  In  tobacco  leaves 
and  elder  flowers  it  is  combined  with  acid  substances. 
It  is  also  an  element  in  the  perfume  of  flowers,  whence 
the  value  of  barn  yard  manure  to  supply  that  element. 

Nitric  acid  is  invariably  present  in  common,  well 
known  plants,  in  combination  with  potash,  soda,  lime, 
and  magnesia  (nitrates).  It  is  always  contained  in 
the  juices  of  the  tobacco  plant  and  the  sunflower.  The 

79 


80  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

common  nettle  contains  it  and  it  is  present  in  barley 
in  the  form  of  nitrate  of  soda. 

Like  ammonia,  nitric  acid  exerts  a  powerful  influ- 
ence on  growing  crops,  whether  of  corn  or  grass.  Ap- 
pied  to  young  grass  or  sprouting  shoots  of  grain,  it 
hastens  and  increases  their  growth  and  occasions  a 
larger  production  of  grain,  and  this  grain  is  richer  in 
gluten,  and  therefore  more  nutritious  in  quality. 

As  showing  the  power  of  a  plant  to  select  its  own 
food:  if  a  bean  and  a  grain  of  wheat  be  grown  side  by 
side,  the  stalk  of  the  wheat  plant  will  contain  silica 
and  that  of  the  bean  none.  The  plant  intelligence,  or 
instinct,  so  to  speak,  knows  what  it  wants  or  needs, 
and  it  takes  what  it  requires,  rejecting  everything  else. 
Plants  have  also  the  power  to  reject  through  their 
roots  such  substances  as  are  unfit  to  contribute  tp  their 
support,  or  which  would  be  hurtful  to  them  if  re- 
tained in  their  system.  Knobs,  excrescences  and  exu- 
dations may  often  be  seen  on  the  roots,  stems,  and 
even  the  leaves  of  plants,  which  many  think  are  due 
to  the  ravages  of  some  insect,  but  which  are  nothing 
more  than  the  natural  effort  of  the  plant  to  get  rid 
of  some  obnoxious  or  harmful  substance  in  its  system. 
When  the  plant's  blood  is  out  of  order  its  nature 
attempts  to  cure  it  by  forcing  the  dangerous  substance 
or  matter  to  the  surface,  as  does  the  animal  system 
under  like  circumstances. 

Even  the  germinating  seed  is  a  chemical  labora- 
tory, inasmuch  as  it  gives  off  acetic  acid,  01  vinegar, 
which  dissolves  the  inorganic  material  in  its  vicinity  and 
returns  with  it  in  a  condition  to  build  up  and  nourish 
the  plant. 

The  chemical  compounds  produced  by  the  juices 
of  all  plants  may  be  said  to  be  innumerable.  Most  of 
them  are  in  such  small  quantities  that  it  would  scarcely 
be  worth  while  to  consider  them,  but  some  are  of  a 
highly  remedial  quality,  as  quinine  from  Peruvian  bark, 


Plant  Foods— Cereals— Forage  Plants,  Etc.  81 

morphine  from  the  opium  of  the  poppy,  salicine  from 
the  willow,  etc.  All  the  cultivated  grains  and  roots 
contain  starch  in  large  quantities,  and  the  juices  of 
trees,  grasses  and  roots  contain  sugar  in  surprising 
quantities.  The  flour  of  grain  contains  sugar  and  two 
other  substances  in  small  quantities,  namely:  .gluten 
and  vegetable  albumen,  which  are  important  nutri- 
tive substances.  Sugar  is  also  present  in  the  juices 
of  fruits,  but  is  associated  with  various  acids  (sour) 
substances,  which  disappear  altogether,  or  are  changed 
into  sugar  as  the  fruit  ripens. 

WOODY  FIBER,  OR  LIGNIN. 

To  manufacture  the  foregoing  chemical  compounds 
nature  requires  a  huge  structure,  an  enormous  space 
when  compared  with  the  product  turned  out.  More 
than  one  has  wondered  why  a  monstrous  oak  should 
produce  so  ridiculously  small  a  fruit  as  an  acorn,  and 
a  weak  pumpkin  vine  one  so  enormous.  The  philoso- 
pher in  the  fable  complained  of  this  irregularity  of 
nature  as  he  lay  under  an  oak.  But  when  a  small 
acorn  fell  upon  his  head  he  changed  his  mind.  Now, 
all  this  huge  structure,  the  body  of  the  plant,  is  as 
carefully  manufactured  as  the  delicate  savory  fruit, 
and  out  of  the  same  ingredients,  practically.  The  bulky 
part  of  the  plant,  the  bone  and  sinew,  se  to  speak,  is 
the  woody  fiber,  or  lignin. 

When  a  piece  of  wood  is  cut  in  small  portions  and 
cooked  in  water  and  alcohol  until  nothing  more  can 
be  dissolved  out  of  it  there  remains  a  white,  fibrous 
mass  to  which  is  given  the  name  woody  fiber,  or  lignin. 
It  has  neither  taste  nor  smell,  and  it  is  insoluble. 
Strange  to  say,  two  of  its  chemical  constituents  are  the 
same  as  water,  being  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  with  an 
equal  quantity  of  carbon  added. 

Under  the  microscope  this  woody  fiber  appears  to 
consist  of  what  is  called  "cellular"  matter,  the  true 
woody  fiber,  and  a  coating  for  strengthening  purposes, 


82  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

called  "incrusting"  matter.  This  cellular  matter  is 
composed  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  in  the  proportions 
to  form  water,  but  it  is  difficult  to  separate  them  to  de- 
termine the  elementary  construction,  but  we  shall  see 
that  they  demand  a  certain  food  and  are  intended 
for  an  important  purpose. 

The  woody  fiber  sometimes  constitutes  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  plant,  and  sometimes  it  is  very  small. 
In  grasses  and  corn  growing  plants,  it  forms  nearly 
one-half  of  the  weight,  but  in  roots  and  in  plants  used 
for  food  it  is  very  small  in  the  first  stages  of  their 
growth.  The  following  table  gives  the  percentage  of 
woody  fiber  in  a  few  common  plants  while  in  a  green 
state. 
Name  of  plant.  Per  cent  of  woody  fiber.  Water. 

Pea  stalks  10.33  80.0 

White  turnips 3.0  92.0 

Common  beet 3.0  86.0 

Eed  clover 7.0  79.0 

White  clover 4.5  81.0 

Alfalfa— in  flower  9.0  73.0 

Eye    1.0  68.0 

STARCH.- 

Next  to  woody  fiber,  starch  is  the  most  abundant 
product  of  vegetation.  By  whatever  names  the  varioub 
kinds  of  starch  are  called:  wheat  starch,  sago,  potato 
starch,  arrow  root,  tapioca,  cassava,  etc.,  they  are  all 
alike  in  their  chemical  constitution.  They  will  keep 
for  any  length  of  time  when  dry  and  in  a  dry  place, 
without  any  change.  They  are  insoluble  in  cold  water 
or  alcohol,  but  dissolve  readily  in  boiling  water,  giv- 
ing a  solution  which  becomes  a  jelly  when  cold.  .In 
a  cold  solution  of  iodine  they  assume  a  blue  color. 

The  constituents  of  starch  are  carbon,  oxygen,  and 
hydrogen,  with  less  carbon  and  more  oxygen  than  woody 
fiber  and  about  the  same  quantity  of  hydrogen. 


I 


I 


i 


1 


Plant  Foods— Cereals— Forage  Plants,  Etc.  83 

That  starch  constitutes  a  large    portion  of    the 
weight  of  grains  and  roots  usually  grown  for  food   the 
following  table  will  show,  one  hundred  pounds  being 
the  quantity  upon  which  to  base  the  percentage: 
Name  of  plant.  Percentage  of  starch. 

Wheat  flour  39.77 

Rye  flour 50.61 

Barley  flour 67.70 

Oatmeal    70.80 

Rice    84.85 

Corn   77.80 

Buckwheat    52.6 

Pea  and  bean  meal     43.0 

Potatoes   15.0 

In  roots  abounding  in  sugar,  as  the  beet,  turnip, 
and  carrot,  only  two  or  three  per  centum  of  starch 
can  be  detected.  It  is  found  deposited  among  the 
woody  fiber  of  certain  trees,  as  in  that  of  the  willow, 
and  in  the  inner  bark  of  others,  as  the  beech  and  the 
pine.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  branch  of  a  willow 
takes  root  and  sprouts  readily,  and  why  the  inner  bark 
of  certain  trees  are  used  for  food  in  times  of  famine. 

GUM. 

Many  varieties  of  gum  occur  in  nature,  all  of  them 
insoluble  in  alcohol,  but  become  jelly  in  hot  or  cold 
water,  and  give  a  glutinous  solution  which  may  be 
used  as  an  adhesive  paste.  Gum  Arabic,  or  Senegal, 
is  the  best  known.  It  is  produced  largely  from  the 
acacia,  which  grows  in  Asia,  Africa,  California  and  in 
the  warm  regions  of  America  generally.  It  exudes  from 
the  twigs  and  stems  of  these  trees,  and  forms  round, 
transparent  drops,  or  "tears."  May  of  our  fruit  trees 
also  produce  it  in  smaller  quantities,  such  as  the  apple, 
plum  and  cherry.  It  is  present  in  the  malva,  or  althea, 
and  in  the  common  marsh  mallow,  and  exists  in  flax, 


84  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

rape,  and  numerous  other  seeds,  which,  treated  with 
boiling  water  give  mucilaginous  solutions. 

All  the  vegetable  gums  possess  the  same  chemical 
constituents  of  carbon,  oxygen,  and  hydrogen,  in  nearly 
the  same  proportions  as  woody  fiber  and  starch. 

SUGARS. 

All  sugars  may  be  classified  according  to  four  prom- 
inent varieties:  Cane,  grape,  manna  and  glucose. 

First — Cane  sugar  is  so  called  from  the  sweet  sub- 
stance obtained  from  sugar  cane.  It  is  also  found  in 
many  trees,  plants  and  roots.  The  juice  of  the  maple 
tree  may  be  boiled  down  into  sugar,  and  in  the  Cau- 
casus the  juice  of  the  walnut  tree  is  extracted  for  the 
same  purpose. 

It  is  also  present  in  the  juice  of  the  beet,  turnip 
and  carrot.  Sugar  beet  cultivation  is  assuming  enor- 
mous proportions  in  the  United  States,  as  well  as  in 
Europe.  Carrot  juice  is  boiled  down  into  a  tasteless 
jelly  and  when  flavored  with  any  fruit  flavors  passes 
for  genuine  fruit  jelly. 

It  is  further  present  in  the  unripe  grains  of  corn, 
at  the  base  of  the  flowers  of  many  grasses  and  in 
clovers  when  in  blossom. 

!Rure  cane  sugar,  free  from  water,  consists  of  the 
following  elements,  estimated  in  percentages: 

Carbon,  44.92;  oxygen,  48.97;  hydrogen,  6.11; 
almost  identical  with  starch. 

Second — Grape  sugar.  This  sugar  is  so  called 
from  a  peculiar  species  of  sugar  existing  in  the  dried 
grape  or  raisin,  which  has  the  appearance  of  small, 
round,  or  grape  shaped  grains.  It  gives  sweetness  to 
the  gooseberry,  currant,  apple,  pear,  plum,  apricot,  and 
most  other  fruits.  It  is  also  the  sweet  substance  of 
the  chestnut,  of  the  brewer's  wort,  and  of  all  fermented 
liquors,  and  it  is  the  sugar  of  honey  when  the  latter 
thickens  and  granulates,  or  "sugars." 

It  is  less  soluble  in  water  than  cane  sugar,  and  less 


Plant  Foods— Cereals— Forage  Plants,  Etc.  85 

sweet,  two  parts  of  cane  sugar  imparting  as  much 
sweetness  as  five  parts  of  grape  sugar,  at  which  ratio 
forty  pounds  of  cane  sugar  would  equal  100  pounds 
of  grape  sugar.  Its  chemical  constituents  are,  in  per- 
centages: Carbon,  40.47;  oxygen,  52.94;  hydrogen, 
6.59.  Likewise  nearly  the  same  as  starch. 

As  a  test  to  distinguish  cane  sugar  from  grape 
sugar:  Heat  a  solution  of  both  and  put  in  each  a 
little  caustic  potash.  The  cane  sugar  will  be  unchanged, 
while  the  grape  sugar  will  be  blanckened  and  precipi- 
tated to  the  bottom  of  the  vessel. 

MANNA  SUGAR,  ETC. 

Manna  sugar  occurs  less  abundantly  in  the  juices 
of  certain  plants  than  cane  or  grape  sugar.  It  exudes 
from  a  species  of  ash  tree  which  grows  in  Sicily,  Italy, 
Syria  and  Arabia.  It  is  the  product  and  main  portion 
of  an  edible  lichen,  or  moss,  very  common  in  Asia 
Minor.  This  curious  lichen  is  found  in  small,  round, 
dark  colored  masses,  from  the  size  of  a  pea  to  that 
of  a  hazel  nut  or  filbert,  and  is  speckled  with  small 
white  spots.  The  wind  carries  it  everywhere,  and  it 
takes  root  wherever  it  happens  to  fall.  It  can  only 
be  gathered  early  in  the  morning  as  it  soon  decomposes, 
or  corrupts.  The  natives  gather  it  from  the  ground 
in  large  quantities  and  make  it  into  bread.  This  is 
said  to  be  what  constituted  the  "rain  of  manna"  which 
fed  the  Israelites  during  their  wanderings  in  the  des- 
ert, and  it  derives  its  name  from  that  circumstance. 

Manna  sugar  is  found  in  the  juice  oi  the  larch 
tree  and  in  the  common  garden  celery.  In  the  mush- 
room a  colorless  variety  is  found.  To  add  two  other 
varieties  of  sugar,  the  black  sugar  of  liquorice  root 
and  sugar  of  milk  may  be  mentioned. 

GLUCOSE. 
The  name  of  this  sugar  means  "sweet,"  a  sweet 


86  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

principle,  or  element.  It  occurs  in  nature  very  abun- 
dantly, as  in  ripe  grapes,  and  in  honey,  and  it  is  manu- 
factured in  large  quantities  from  starch  by  the  action 
of  heat  and  acids.  It  is  only  about  one-half  as  sweet 
as  cane  sugar.  It  is  sometimes  called  "dextrose," 
"grape  sugar/'  and  "starch  sugar."  What  is  known 
to  the  trade  as  "glucose,"  is  the  uncrystallizable  resi- 
due in  the  manufacture  of  glucose  proper,  and  it  con- 
tains some  dextrose,  maltose,  dextrine,  etc.  Its  pro- 
fusion and  ease  of  manufacture  makes  it  a  cheap  adul- 
teration for  syrups,  in  beers,  and  in  all  forms  of  cheap 
candies.  The  test  for  it  is  the  same  as  that  given  to 
distinguish  between  cane  and  grape  sugar. 

All  the  elements  in  the  foregoing  sugars  are  simi- 
lar in  their  chemical  constitution,  and  what  is  still 
more  remarkable  about  them,  is  the  fact  that  they 
may  be  transformed  one  into  the  other,  that  is :  Woody 
fiber  may  be  changed  into  starch  by  heat,  sulphuric 
acid,  or  caustic  potash;  the  starch  thus  produced  may 
be  further  transformed,  first,  into  gum,  and  then  into 
grape  sugar  by  the  prolonged  action  of  dilute  sulphuric 
acid  and  moderate  heat.  When  cane  sugar  is  digested 
(heated)  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  tartaric  acid  (acid 
of  grapes),  and  other  vegetable  acids,  it  is  rapidly  con- 
verted into  grape  sugar.  When  sugar  occurs  in  the 
juice  of  any  plant  or  fruit,  in  connection  with  an  acid, 
it  is  always  grape  sugar,  because  cane  sugar  can  not 
exist  in  combination  with  an  acid,  but  is  gradually 
transformed  into  grape  sugar.  This  is  the  reason  why 
fruits  ferment  so  readily,  and  why,  even  when  pre- 
served with  cane  sugar,  the  latter  is  slowly  changed  into 
grape  sugar  and  then  fermentation  ensues,  and  the 
preserved  fruit  "spoils." 

GLUTEN,   VEGETABLE   ALBUMEN   AND   DIASTASE. 

These  substances  are  the  nitrogenous  elements  in 
plants. 


Plant  Foods— Cereals—Forage  Plants,  Etc.  87 

Gluten  is  a  soft,  tenacious  and  elastic  substance, 
which  can  be  drawn  out  into  long  strings.  It  has 
little  color,  taste,  or  smell,  and  is  scarcely  diminished 
in  bulk  by  washing  either  in  hot  or  cold  water.  It 
is  a  product  of  grain  flour,  left  after  washing  dough 
in  a  fine  sieve,  and  allowing  the  milky,  soluble  sub- 
stance to  pass  off.  The  percentage  of  gluten  in  various 
grains  is  as  follows : 

Wheat 8  to  35  per  centum. 

Eye 9  to  13  per  centum. 

Barley 3  to  6    per  centum. 

Oats 2  to  5    per  centum. 

Dried  in  the  air  it  diminishes  in  bulk,  and  hardens 
into  a  brittle,  transparent  yellow  substances  resembling 
corn,  or  glue.  It  is  insoluble  in  water,  but  dissolves 
readily  in  vinegar,  alcohol,  and  in  solutions  of  caustic 
potash,  or  common  soda. 

Vegetable  albumen,  is  practically  the  same  as  the 
white  of  eggs.  It  has  neither  color,  taste,  nor  smell, 
is  insoluble  in  water  or  alcohol,  but  dissolves  in  vine- 
gar, and  in  caustic  potash,  and  soda.  When  dry  it  is 
brittle  and  opaque.  It  is  found  in  the  seeds  of  plants 
in  small  quantities,  and  in  grain  in  the  following 
percentages : 

Wheat 75  to  1.50 

Eye 2.0   to  3.75 

Barley 10  to    .50 

Oats 20  to    .50 

It  occurs  largely,  moreover,  in  the  fresh  juices  of 
plants,  in  cabbage  leaves,  turnips  and  numerous  others. 
When  these  juices  are  heated,  the  albumen  coagulates 
and  is  readily  separated. 

Gluten  and  vegetable  albumen  are  as  closely  re- 
lated to  each  other  as  sugar  and  starch.  They  con- 
sist of  the  same  elements  united  together  in  the  same 
proportions,  and  are  capable  of  similar  mutual  trans- 
formations. The  following  table  will  show  the  per- 


88  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

centages  in  which  the  reader  will  notice  that  nitrogen 
is  an  element  which  does  not  exist  in  starch  or  sugar: 

Carbon   54.76 

Oxygen  20.06 

Hydrogen 7.06 

Nitrogen  18.12 

When  exposed  to  the  air  in  a  moist  state  both 
these  substances  decompose  and  emit  a  very  disagree- 
ble  odor,  giving  off,  among  other  compounds,  ammonia 
and  vinegar.  Both  of  them  exercise  an  important 
influence  over  the  nourishing  properties  of  the  different 
kinds  of  foods,  as  we  shall  see  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

DIASTASE. 

This  substance  may  be  manufactured  from  newly 
malted  barley,  or  from  any  grain  or  tuber  when  ger- 
minated. It  is  not  found  in  the  seed,  but  is  manu- 
factured during  the  process  of  germination  by  the  seed 
itself,  or  its  decomposition,  and  it  remains  with  the 
seed  until  the  first  true  leaves  of  the  plant  have  ex- 
panded, and  then  it  disappears.  Its  functions,  there- 
fore, are  to  aid  in  the  sprouting  of  the  seed,  and  that 
accomplished,  and  there  being  no  further  use  for  it, 
it  disappears.  The  reason  for  this  is  as  follows : 

Diastase  possesses  the  power  of  converting  starch 
into  grape  sugar.  First,  it  forms  out  of  starch  a  gummy 
substance  known  as  dextrine,  in  common  use  as  ad- 
hesive paste,  and  then  converts  it  into  grape  sugar. 
Now,  the  starch  in  the  seed  is  the  food  of  the  future 
germ,  prepared  and  ready  to  minister  to  its  wants  when- 
ever heat  and  moisture  come  together  to  awaken  it  into 
life.  But  starch  is  insoluble  in  water  and  could  not, 
therefore,  accompany  the  fluid  sap  when  it  begins  to  cir- 
culate. For  which  reason,  nature  forms  diastase  at  the 
point  when  the  germ  first  issues,  or  sprouts  from  its  bed 
of  food.  There  it  transforms  the  starch  into  soluble 
sugar,  so  that  the  young  vessels  can  take  it  up  and  carry 
it  to  the  point  of  growth.  When  the  little  plant  is  able 


Plant  Foods— Cereals— Forage  Plants,  Etc.  89 

to  provide  for  itself,  and  select  its  own  food  out  of  the 
soil  and  air,  it  becomes  independent  of  the  diastase  and 
the  latter  is  no  longer  wanted.  Weaning  a  child  will 
give  the  reader  the  idea. 

VEGETABLE   ACIDS. 

There  is  another  class  of  compound  substances 
which  play  an  important  part  in  the  development  of 
plant  foods  and  the  perfection  of  growth.  They  are 
known  as  the  vegetable  acids,  and  it  is  due  to  them  that 
plants  possess  a  taste  and  flavor,  every  plant  having  its 
own  peculiar  acid.  They  are  usually  classified  into  five 
species  and  enter  into  combination  with  all  of  the  sub- 
stances heretofore  referred  to.  They  are: 

Acetic  acid  (vinegar),  tartaric  acid  (acid  of  wine), 
citric  acid  (acid  of  lemons),  malic  acid  (acid  of  ap- 
ples), and  oxalic  acid  (acid  of  sorrel).  Acetic  acid  is 
the  most  extensively  diffused  and  the  most  largely  pro- 
duced of  all  the  organic  acids.  It  is  formed  wherever 
there  is  a  natural  or  artificial  fermentation  of  vegetable 
substances.  It  easily  dissolves  lime,  magnesia,  alumina, 
and  other  mineral  substances,  forming  salts  known  as 
"acetates,"  which  are  all  soluble  in  water,  and  may, 
therefore,  be  absorbed  by  the  root  pores  of  plants.  It  is 
an  acid  common  in  everything,  and  may  be  manufac- 
tured from  wood,  alcohol,  cane  sugar  and  from  the  juice 
of  apples,  or  by  any  vegetable  fermentation,  the  process 
of  fermentation  throwing  off  carbonic  acid  and  forming 
vinegar. 

Tartaric  acid  finds  lodgment  in  a  variety  of  plants. 
The  grape  and  the  tamarind  owe  their  sourness  to  it, 
and  it  exists  also  in  the  mulberry,  berries  of  the  sumach, 
in  the  sorrels,  and  in  the  roots  of  the  dandelion.  It  is 
deposited  on  the  sides  of  wine  vats,  and  when  purified 
and  compounded  with  potash,  it  becomes  the  familiar 
"cream  of  tartar/'  which  is  known  to  every  housewife. 
In  the  grape  it  is  converted  into  sugar  during  the  ripen- 
hig  of  the  fruit. 


90  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

Citric  acid  gives  sourness  to  the  lemon,  lime,  orange, 
grape  fruit,  shaddock  and  other  members  of  the  citrus 
family.  It  is  the  acid  in  the  cranberry,  and  in  numerous 
small  fruits  such  as  the  huckleberry,  wild  cherry,  cur- 
rant, gooseberry,  strawberry,  and  the  fruit  of  the  haw- 
thorn. In  combination  with  lime,  it  exists  in  the 
tubers,  and  with  potash,  it  is  found  in  the  Jerusalem 
artichoke. 

Malic  acid  is  the  chief  acid  in  apples,  peaches, 
plums,  pears,  elderberries,  the  fruit  of  the  mountain 
ash.  It  is  combined  with  citric  acid  in  the  small  fruits 
above  mentioned,  and  in  the  grape  and  American  agave 
it  is  associated  with  tartaric  acid.  It  has  exactly  the 
same  chemical  constitution  as  citric  acid,  and  the  two 
bear  the  same  relation  to  each  other  as  starch,  gum  and 
sugar.  They  undergo  numerous  transformations  in  the 
interior  of  plants,  and  are  the  cause  of  the  various 
flavors  possessed  by  fruits  and  vegetables. 

Oxalic  acid  has  poisonous  qualities,  but  an  agree- 
able taste.  It  occurs  in  combination  with  potash  in  the 
sorrels,  in  garden  rhubarb,  and  in  the  juices  of  many 
lichens,  or  mosses.  Those  mosses  which  cover  the  sides 
of  rocks  and  the  trunks  of  trees  sometimes  contain  half 
their  weight  of  this  acid  in  combination  with  lime. 

This  chapter  is,  of  course,  one  step  farther  in  ad- 
vance of  the  one  immediately  preceding,  and  the  facts 
stated  are  intended  to  lead  on  up  to  a  complete,  prac- 
tical knowledge  of  the  forces  of  nature  operating  in 
the  soil  and  within  the  plant  to  attain  perfection.  Noth- 
ing but  the  bare  essentials,  the  mere  outlines,  have  been 
given  so  far;  to  attempt  to  enter  into  all  the  details 
would  be  to  write  an  entire  volume,  the  reading  of  which 
might  prove  tiresome  and  unproductive  of  anything 
practical.  All  that  it  is  desired  to  do  in  these  prelim- 
inary chapters  is  to  furnish  the  reader  with  sufficient 
elementary  knowledge  to  enable  him  to  go  farther  on 
his  own  account  and  to  infer  what  the  soil  needs  for  the 


Plant  Foods— Cereals— Forage  Plants,  Etc.  91 

cultivation  of  plants;  how  that  soil  is  to  be  cultivated, 
and  how  the  element  of  water  is  to  be  applied  to  it  in 
order  to  increase  its  productiveness  and  his  profit. 
This  is  the  true  preliminary  to  irrigation,  as  we  imag- 
ine, for  it  would  convey  no  information  to  suggest  the 
pouring  of  water  on  the  soil,  and  drenching  plants  and 
crops  with  it,  unless  the  intelligence  is  prepared  to 
understand  why  that  should  be  done,  and  all  the  details 
and  consequences  laid  before  the  reason  and  common 
sense. 

So  far,  the  reader  ought  to  have  a  comparatively 
clear  idea  of  the  chemical  constitutions  of  the  substances 
which  enter  into  the  soil,  and  from  the  soil  into  the 
plants,  but  there  still  remains  the  question:  How  do 
the  substances  necessary  to  plant  life  get  into  the  con- 
dition of  plant  food  ?  This  question  will  be  answered  in 
the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

HOW  PLANT  FOOD  IS   TRANSFORMED   INTO   PLANTS. 

The  growth  of  plants  from  the  seed  to  the  harvest, 
or  fall  of  the  leaf,  may  be  divided  into  four  periods, 
during  each  of  which  they  live  on  different  foods  and 
expend  their  energies  in  the  production  of  different 
substances. 

This  is  important  to  be  well  understood,  for  plants 
can  not  be  dieted  like  animals,  they  need  certain  provi- 
sions at  certain  periods  of  their  growth,  and  if  not 
supplied  with  them  the  result  is  failure,  or  a  sparse 
crop.  A  farmer  feeds  his  chickens  egg-producing  food, 
his  cows  milk-generating  fodder  and  mash,  and  his 
cattle  fat-making  provender.  He  might  as  well  deprive 
his  animals  of  their  necessary  stimulating  food  and 
expect  them  to  go  on  laying  eggs,  furnishing  milk  and 
growing  fat,  as  to  expect  his  crops  to  succeed  without 
providing  them  with  the  requisite  material  to  arrive  at 
perfection.  But,  to  proceed. 

These  four  periods  in  the  life  of  plants  are : 

First — The  period  of  germination,  that  is,  from 
the  sprouting  of  the  seed  to  the  formation  of  the  first 
perfect  leaf  and  root. 

Second — From  the  unfolding  of  the  first  true 
leaves  to  the  flower. 

Third — From  the  flower  to  the  ripening  of  the 
fruit  or  seed. 

Fourth — From  the  ripening  of  the  fruit,  or  seed, 
to  the  fall  of  the  leaf  and  the  return  of  the  following 
spring. 

Of  course,  in  anuual  plants,  when  the  seed  or  fruit 
is  ripe  or  harvested,  there  are  no  more  duties  or  func- 
tions to  perform,  hence  the  plants  die,  having  accom- 
plished the  object  of  their  existence.  But  in  the  case 
of  perennial  plants,  there  are  important  things  to  be 

92 


How  Plant  Food  is  Transformed  Into  Plants.         93 

done  in  order  to  prepare  them  for  the  new  growth  of 
the  ensuing  spring. 

PERIOD  OP  GERMINATION. 

1.  To  sprout  at  all,  a  seed  must  be  placed  in  a 
sufficiently  moist  situation.     No  circulation  can  take 
place,  no  motion  among  the  particles  of  the  matter 
composing  the  seed,  until  it  has  been  amply  supplied 
with  water.    Indeed,  food  can  not  be  conveyed  through 
its  growing  organs  unless  a  constant  supply  of  fluid  be 
furnished  the  infant  plant  and  its  first  tender  rootlets. 
This  does  not  mean  drenching  the  immature  plant  with 
water,  but  supplying  it  with  moisture.    A  child  needs 
feeding  just  as  much  as  an  adult,  but  not  to  the  same 
extent,  and  over-feeding  kills  the  young  plant  as  quickly 
as  the  young  animal.    The  reason  is  plain,  if  the  reader 
remembers  what  was  said  in  the  last  chapter,  in  which 
it  was  specified  that  water  is  a  chemical  compound  of 
oxygen  and  hydrogen.     In  this  state  it  is  too  strong  a 
food  for  the  young  plant,  and  "drowns"  it  out,  as  the 
saying  is.     But  in  a  state  of  moisture,  the  chemical 
nature  of  the  water  is  altered  somewhat  and  becomes 
available  to  the  juices  in  the  seed,  whereby  the  germ 
is  enabled  to  grow  and  fulfill  its  mission  without  meet- 
ing with  a  premature  death.     It  is  water  that  is  the 
parent  of  moisture  and  without  water,  of  course,  there 
can  be  no  moisture.    Nevertheless,  throughout  this  en- 
tire book,  it  is  moisture  that  will  be  insisted  upon; 
when  plants  have  that,  the  whole  object  of  irrigation 
will  be  accomplished,  unless  it  be  the  intention  to  grow 
aquatic  plants. 

Now,  this  moisture  must  be  constant  during  the 
entire  life  of  the  plant,  not  liberal  one  day  with  the 
next  day  dry,  and  so  on,  alternately,  as  some  say  may 
happen  in  the  case  of  pork  for  the  purpose  of  making 
alternate  layers  of  fat  and  lean  in  the  bacon,  but  not  in 
the  case  of  vegetation. 

2.  A  certain  degree  of  warmth  is  necessary  to 


94  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

germination.  This  warmth  varies  with  the  seed,  some 
seeds,  those  containing  much  starch,  for  instance,  re- 
quiring more,  and  slow  germinating  seeds  less.  What  is 
needed  is  not  too  early  a  planting  and  protection  against 
any  inclemency  of  the  weather  from  frost  or  cold  rains, 
and  not  too  late  a  planting  in  locations  where  there  are 
no  winter  or  spring  frosts,  to  avoid  too  great  a  heat 
from  the  sun,  which  is  as  dangerous  to  tender  plants 
as  frost.  "Warmth"  is  a  sufficiently  descriptive  word 
to  make  the  meaning  clear. 

3.  Seeds  refuse  to  germinate  if  entirely  excluded 
from  the  air,  even  where  there  is  plenty  of  moisture. 
Hence,  in  a  damp  soil,  seeds  will  not  show  any  signs 
of  life  for  a  long  time,  and  yet  when  turned  up  near 
the  surface  within  reach  of  the  air,  they  speedily  sprout. 
The  starch  in  the  grain  intended  to  feed  the  germ  will 
not  dissolve  in  water,  so  it  happens  that  the  farmer, 
sometimes,  in  ditching  or  digging  a  well,  throws  up 
earth  that  has  lain  many  feet  below  the  surface  for 
years,  perhaps  ages,  the  length  of  time  makes  no  differ- 
ence, from  which  sprout  plants  of  unknown  varieties. 
They  have  never  lost  their  vitality.  The  "oat  hills"  in 
the  southern  part  of  California  are  familiar  examples. 
Year  after  year  a  good  crop  of  oats  springs  up  without 
planting,  cultivating  the  surface  being  sufficient  to 
bring  the  buried  grain  within  reach  of  the  air.  It  is 
said  that  the  old  Padres  originally  sowed  this  grain 
broadcast  wherever  they  went,  taking  a  sack  of  it  on 
their  horses,  and  as  they  traveled  along  cast  handfuls 
of  it  in  the  most  favorable  spots.  This  grain  grew  to 
maturity  year  after  year,  going  back  to  the  soil  unhar- 
vested,  there  being  nobody  to  gather  it.  The  civil  and 
criminal  records  of  the  southern  California  courts  are 
full  of  lawsuits  and  murders  growing  out  of  struggles 
to  obtain  and  retain  possession  of  these  "oat  hills/' 

A  friend  for  whose  accuracy  there  is  abundant  evi- 
dence, cites  a  case  that  happened  to  him  personally  in  a 


How  Plant  Food  is  Transformed  Into  Plants.         95 

small  valley  in  the  semi-arid  region.  Wanting  water 
he  began  sinking  a  well  and  went  down  one  hundred 
feet  before  reaching  moist  ground.  That  ground  was 
a  soft  black  loam,  and  desiring  to  keep  it  for  a  top 
dressing,  he  laid  it  aside  for  future  use.  Not  long 
afterward  seeds  began  sprouting  all  over  it  and,  helping 
the  sprouts  with  a  little  water  to  keep  the  soil  moist, 
he  raised  a  thick  crop  of  fine  sweet  clover.  The  seeds 
had  never  been  planted  by  the  hand  of  man,  for  the 
formation  of  the  soil  indicated  that  it  might  have  been 
in  the  same  condition  since  the  Deluge. 

4.  Generally  speaking,  light  is  injurious  to  ger- 
mination, wherefore,  the  seeds  must  be  covered  with 
soil,  and  yet  not  so  deep  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of 
air.    Sowing  grain  broadcast  leaves  much  of  it  exposed 
to  the  light,  and  even  after  harrowing,  it  does  not  ger- 
minate, being  food  for  birds  and  drying  up  or  burning 
up  in  the  sun.     In  light,  porous  soils,  it  is  common, 
however,  to  sow  broadcast  and  then  plow  under,  after- 
ward harrowing  lightly.    It  is  also  common  in  the  arid 
and  semi-arid  regions  to  plow  the  grain  in  "dry"  in 
the  summer  or  dry  months,  and  when  the  rains  come  in 
the  autumn,  or  say,  in  November  and  December,  the 
grain  sprouts  in  a  few  days. 

The  reason  why  light  is  prejudicial  to  germination 
and  why  atmospheric  air  is  necessary  is  because  during 
germination  seeds  absorb  oxygen  gas  and  give- off  car- 
bonic acid,  and  they  can  not  sprout  unless  oxygen  gas 
is  within  their  reach,  the  only  place  where  they  can 
obtain  it  being  from  the  atmosphere.  In  the  sunshine 
the  leaves  of  plants  give  off  oxygen  gas  and  absorb 
carbonic  acid,  while  in  the  dark  the  reverse  takes  place. 
Hence,  if  seeds  are  exposed  to  the  sunlight,  they  give 
up  oxygen  which  they  need  and  absorb  carbonic  acid, 
which  kills  them. 

5.  During  germination,  acetic  acid  (vinegar)  and 
diastase  are  produced,  as  mentioned  in  the  last  pre- 


96  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

ceding  chapter,  whereby  the  insoluble  starch  is  con- 
verted into  sugar,  which  is  soluble  and  can  be  absorbed 
as  food  by  the  youthful  plant. 

6.  The  tender  young  shoot  which  ascends  from 
the  seed  consists  of  a  mass  of  organs  or  vessels,  which 
gradually  increase  in  length,  sometimes  "unroll"  into 
the  first  true  leaves.  The  vessels  of  this  first  shoot  do 
not  consist  of  unmixed  woody  fiber,  that  is  not  formed 
until  after  the  first  leaves  are  fully  developed.  In  the 
meantime  the  young  root  is  making  its  way  down  into 
the  soil,  seeking  a  storehouse  of  nourishment  upon 
which  it  can  draw  when  the  sugar  of  the  seed  shall  all 
have  been  consumed. 

These  phenomena  are  brought  about  in  the  follow- 
ing manner:  The  seed  absorbs  oxygen  and  gives  oft* 
carbonic  acid.  This  transforms  a  portion  of  the  starch 
into  acetic  acid,  which  aids  the  diastase  to  transform  the 
insoluble  starch  into  soluble  sugar,  or  food  that  can  be 
taken  up  into  the  plant.  It  also  dissolves  the  lime  in 
the  soil  contiguous  to  it,  and  returns  into  the  plant, 
carrying  the  lime  or  other  dissolved  earthy  substances 
with  it.  The  seed  imbibes  moisture  from  the  soil,  and 
this  dissolves  the  "sugary  starch/'  so  to  speak,  and  it 
all  goes  into  the  circulation,  and  the  plant  is  enabled  to 
grow  and  develop  its  first  leaves.  It  is  like  a  baby  fed 
on  milk. 

When  the  true  leaves  have  expanded,  woody  fiber 
begins  to  make  its  appearance,  which  can  be  readily 
understood  by  attempting  to  break  the  plant  stalk,  a 
thing  easily  done  before  the  first  leaves  appear,  but  not 
so  easily  afterward.  The  sugar  in  the  sap  is  now  con- 
verted into  woody  fiber,  the  root  drawing  up  food  from 
the  soil,  and  the  leaf  drinking  oxygen  and  carbonic  acid 
from  the  atmosphere.  The  moisture  must  still  be  con- 
stant, for  the  root  can  not  absorb  food  unless  the  latter 
is  properly  dissolved. 


How  Plant  Food  is  Transformed  Into  Plants.          97 
FROM  THE  FIRST  LEAVES  TO  THE  FLOWER. 

The  plant  now  enters  upon  a  new  stage  of  exist- 
ence, deriving  its  sustenance  from  the  air  and  the  soil. 
The  roots  descend  and  the  stem  shoots  up,  and  while 
they  consist  essentially  of  the  same  chemical  substances 
as  before,  they  are  no  longer  formed  at  the  expense  of 
the  starch  in  the  seed,  and  the  chemical  changes  of 
which  they  are  the  result  are  entirely  different. 

Here  is  where  the  farmer  will  make  a  fatal  mistake 
if  he  relaxes  his  vigilance.  The  whole  energy  of  the 
plant  is  directed  toward  one  single  goal,  that  of  pre- 
paring for  the  flower  which  is  the  forerunner  of  the 
fruit.  What  the  flower  is,  that  will  be  the  fruit. 

The  leaf  absorbs  carbonic  acid  in  the  sunshine  and 
gives  off  oxygen  in  equal  bulk,  and  the  growth  of  the 
plant  is  intimately  connected  with  this  absorption  of 
carbonic  acid,  because  it  is  in  the  light  of  the  sun  that 
plants  increase  in  size.  Now,  by  this  function  of  the 
leaf,  carbon  is  added  to  the  plant,  but  it  is  added  in  the 
presence  of  the  water  of  the  sap  and  is  thus  enabled  by 
uniting  with  it  to  form  any  one  of  those  numerous 
compounds  which  may  be  represented  by  carbon  and 
water,  and  of  which,  as  was  shown  in  the  last  chapter, 
the  solid  parts  of  plants  are  principally  made  up.  This 
period  may  be  called  the  period  of  "plant  building," 
the  plant  utilizing  every  material  that  will  bring  it  up 
to  the  condition  of  flowering. 

The  sap  flows  upward  from  the  roots,  through 
which  have  been  received  the  silica,  potash,  soda,  phos- 
phorous, etc.,  in  solution,  and  reaching  the  leaves,  meets 
the  carbonic  acid  flowing  in  through  the  myriad  of 
mouths  in  the  leaves,  and  then  flows  along  back  down- 
ward to  the  roots,  depositing,  as  it  descends,  the  starch, 
woody  fiber,  etc.,  which  have  been  formed  by  the  action 
of  the  carbonic  acid.  Thus  the  sap  circulates  round  and 
round  like  the  circulation  of  blood  in  the  veins  of  an 
animal,  except  that  its  heart  is  not  a  central  organ,  but 


98  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

an  attraction  of  affinities  among  the  substances  which 
enter  into  plant  life,  affinities  constantly  pursuing  each 
other  through  the  veins  or  capillaries  of  the  plant,  and 
forming  unions,  the  products  of  which  add  to  the 
growth  of  the  plant  and  enable  it  to  accomplish  its  des- 
tiny. 

During  this  ante-flowering  period  there  are  pro- 
duced in  the  plant  not  only  woody  fiber,  but  other 
compounds  which  play  an  important  part  in  a  subse- 
quent stage  of  its  existence;  one  of  these,  the  most  im- 
portant, is  oxalic  acid,  which  has  already  been  alluded 
to.  Tliis  acid  seems  to  be  formed  at  this  period  to  aid 
in  perfecting  the  future  fruits  that  will  follow  the 
flower.  What  is  curious  about  these  various  acids  now 
formed  is  that  many  of  the  plants  are  sour  in  the 
morning,  tasteless  during  the  middle  of  the  day,  and 
bitter  in  the  evening.  The  reason  is,  during  the  day 
these  plants  have  been  accumulating  oxygen  from  the 
atmosphere  to  form  acids,  but  as  the  day  advances  this 
oxygen  is  given  off,  carbonic  acid  is  imbibed  and  the 
acids  decomposed.  Hence  the  sourness  disappears,  but 
the  materials  are  in  the  plant  ready  for  use  when  re- 
quired— the  acid  storehouse  is  filling  against  the  day 
of  need. 

In  the  case  of  wheat,  barley  and  other  grains,  the 
chief  energy  of  the  plant,  previous  to  flowering,  is  ex- 
pended in  the  production  of  the  woody  fiber  of  its  stem 
or  stalk,  and  growing  branches,  drawing  up  from  the 
soil  for  that  purpose  the  various  ingredients  they  re- 
quire from  among  the  inorganic  elements,  which  unite 
with  the  vegetable  acids  in  the  sap  and  form  compounds 
which  are  essential  to  the  perfection  of  the  grain  or 
seed.  In  the  first  stage  of  its  growth  the  starch  of  the 
seed  is  transformed  into  gum,  and  then  sugar;  in  its 
second  stage,  when  the  leaves  are  expanded,  the  starih 
is  transformed  into  woody  fiber. 


How  Plant  Food  is  Transformed  Into  Plants.         99 
FROM    THE    FLOWER    TO    THE    RIPENING    OF    THE    FRUIT. 

The  sap  has  now  become  sweet  and  milky,  indi- 
cating sugar  and  starch.  These  during  the  third  period 
are  gradually  transformed  in  the  sap  into  starch,  a 
process  exactly  the  reverse,  or  contrary  of  that  in  the 
first  and  second  periods.  The  opening  of  the  flower 
from  the  swollen  bud  is  the  first  step  taken  by  the  plant 
to  produce  the  seed  by  which  its  species  is  to  be  per- 
petuated. At  this  period  a  new  series  of  chemical 
changes  commence  in  the  plant. 

1.  The  flower  leaves  absorb  oxygen  and  emit  car- 
bonic acid  all  the  time,  both  by  day  and  by  night. 

2.  They  also  emit  pure  nitrogen  gas. 

3.  The  juices  of  the  plant  cease  to  be  sweet,  even 
in  the  maple,  sugar  cane,  and  beet;  the  sugar  becomes 
less  abundant  when  the  plant  has  begun  to  blossom.    A 
change  not  difficult  to  understand  when  it  is  considered 
that  nature  is  at  work  preparing  to  perfect  the  seed  or 
fruit,  and  is  not  working    for    commercial    interests. 
The  structure  of  the  plant  is  now  of  no  consequence, 
and  ceases  to  be  of  any  importance.     The  imbibing  of 
oxygen,  which  is  the  parent  of  all  acids,  is  intended  to 
convert  the  sugar  into  material  for  the  seed,  or  fruit, 
the  wheat  or  the  peach,  the  strawberry  or  the  squash. 

The  husk  of  grain  bearing  grasses,  corn,  wheat, 
oats,  etc.,  is  filled  at  first  with  a  milky  fluid  which  be- 
comes gradually  sweeter  and  more  dense,  or  thicker, 
and  finally  consolidates  into  a  mixture  of  starch  and 
gluten,  such  as  may  be  extracted  from  the  grain  as  has 
already  been  said. 

The  fleshy  envelopes  of  many  plants,  at  first,  taste- 
less, become  sour  and  finally  sweet,  except  in  the  lime, 
lemon  and  tamarind,  in  which  the  acid  remains  sensible 
to  the  taste  when  the  seed  has  become  perfectly  ripe. 

Fruits,  when  green,  act  upon  the  air  like  green 
leaves  and  twigs,  that  is,  they  imbibe  oxygen  and  give 
off  carbonic  acid,  but  as  they  approach  maturity  they 


100  The  Primer  of  Irrigation*. 

also  absorb  or  retain  oxygen  gas.  The  same  absorption 
of  oxygen  takes  place  when  unripe  fruits  are  plucked 
and  left  to  ripen  in  the  air,  as  is  common  in  the  case 
of  tomatoes,  oranges,  lemons,  and  bananas.  After  a 
time,  however,  they  begin  throwing  off  carbonic  acid 
and  then  they  ferment,  spoil  or  rot. 

RIPENING  OF  THE  FRUIT. 

In  the  case  of  pulpy  fruits,  such  as  the  grape, 
lemon,  orange,  apple,  peach,  plum,  etc.,  when  unripe 
and  tasteless,  they  consist  of  the  same  substances  as  the 
leaf,  a  woody  fiber  filled  with  tasteless  sap,  and  tinged 
with  the  green  coloring  matter  of  the  plant.  For  a 
time,  the  young  fruit  performs  the  functions  of  the  leaf, 
that  is,  it  absorbs  carbonic  acid  and  gives  off  oxygen, 
thus  extracting  from  the  atmosphere  a  portion  of  the 
food  by  which  its  growth  is  promoted  and  its  size  is 
gradually  increased.  Remember  what  has  been  hereto- 
fore said  about  carbon  constituting  the  bulk  of  the 
plant. 

By  and  by,  however,  the  fruit  becomes  sour  to  the 
taste,  and  this  sourness  rapidly  increases,  while  at  the 
same  time  it  gives  less  oxygen  than  before,  the  retain- 
ing of  the  oxygen  being,  as  has  been  said,  the  cause  of 
the  sourness,  the  oxygen  converting  the  sugar  into  tar- 
taric  acid  and  water.  The  grape  is  an  illustration, 
though  the  same  thing  happens  in  fruits  abounding  in 
the  other  vegetable  acids. 

This  formation  of  acid  proceeds  for  a  certain  time, 
the  fruit  becoming  sourer  and  sourer.  Then  the  sharp 
sourness  begins  to  diminish,  sugar  is  formed,  and  the 
fruit  ripens.  The  acid,  however,  rarely  disappears  en- 
tirely, even  in  the  sweetest  fruits,  until  they  begin  to 
decay. 

During  the  ripening  of  the  fruit,  the  woody  or 
cellular  fiber  gradually  diminishes  and  is  converted  into 
sugar.  This  will  be  noticed  in  several  kinds  of  fruits, 
particularly  winter  pears,  which  are  uneatable  when 


How  Plant  Food  is  Transformed  Into  Plants.        101 

actually  ripened  on  the  tree,  but  become  ripe,  long  after 
plucking,  by  continuing  to  absorb  oxygen,  which  con- 
verts the  woody  fiber,  or  cellular  tissue,  into  sugar, 
which  is  not  difficult  to  understand,  as  woody  fiber  is 
very  similar  to  sugar  in  its  chemical  constitution, 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  entire  forces  of  the 
plant  are  concentrated  upon  the  seed,  the  element,  or 
agent  of  reproduction,  the  pulp  of  the  most  delicious 
fruit,  the  kernel  of  the  sweetest  nut  being  nothing  but 
protective  envelopes  and  food  supplies  for  the  germ 
when  the  time  and  opportunity  shall  arrive  for  germi- 
nation. So  that  the  object  of  the  plant  in  making  so 
many  transformations  is  not  fruit,  but  seed. 

FROM    THE    FALL    OP    THE    LEAP    TO    THE    FOLLOWING 
SPRING. 

When  the  seed  is  fully  ripe  the  functions  of  annual 
plants  are  ended.  There  is  no  longer  any  necessity  for 
absorbing  and  decomposing  carbonic  acid;  the  leaves, 
therefore,  begin  to  take  in  only  oxygen,  with  the  result 
that  they  are  burned  up,  so  to  speak,  and  they  become 
yellow,  or  parti-colored;  the  roots  decline  to  take  in 
any  more  food  from  the  soil,  and  the  whole  plant  pre- 
pares for  its  death  and  its  burial  in  the  soil  by  becoming 
resolved  into  the  organic  and  inorganic  elements  from 
which  it  sprang,  and  of  which  it  was  originally  com- 
pounded. 

But  of  trees  and  perennial  plants,  a  further  labor 
is  required.  The  ripened  seed  having  been  disposed  of, 
there  are  incipient  young  buds  to  be  provided  for,  buda 
which  are  to  shoot  out  from  the  stem  and  branches  on 
the  ensuing  spring.  These  buds  are  so  many  young 
plants  for  which  a  store  of  food  must  be  laid  away  in 
the  inner  bark  of  the  tree,  or  in  the  wood  of  the  shrub 
itself. 

The  sap  continues  to  flow  rapidly  until  the  leaves 
wither  and  fall,  and  then  the  food  of  the  plant  is  con- 


102  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

verted  partly  into  woody  fiber  and  partly  into  starch. 
It  has  been  shown  how  these  substances  are  converted 
into  food  by  chemical  changes,  or  transformations,  and 
these  changes  do  not  cease  so  long  as  the  sap  continues 
to  move.  Even  in  the  depth  of  winter  the  sap  slowly 
and  secretly  stores  up  starchy  matter,  in  readiness,  like 
the  starch  in  the  seed,  to  furnish  food  to  the  young 
buds  when  they  shall  awaken  in  the  spring  from  their 
winter  sleep.  It  is  the  same  process  as  in  the  case  of  a 
seed  planted  in  the  ground. 

RAPIDITY   OF   GROWTH. 

It  has  been  shown  that  from  carbonic  acid  and 
water,  the  plant  can  extract  all  the  elements  of  which 
its  most  bulky  parts  consist,  and  can  build  them  up  in 
numerous  ways.  But  the  rapidity  with  which  the  plant 
can  perform  this  building  up  is  almost  incredible. 

Wheat  will  shoot  up  several  inches  in  three  days, 
barley  six  inches  in  that  time,  and  a  vine  twig  will 
grow  about  two  feet  in  three  days.  Cucumbers  have 
been  known  to  attain  a  length  of  twenty-four  inches  in 
six  days,  and  a  bamboo  has  increased  its  height  nine 
feet  in  less  than  thirty  days. 

The  rapid  growth  of  vegetation  in  semi-tropical 
arid  and  semi-arid  regions  is  phenomenal.  A  young 
eucalyptus  tree  has  been  known  to  grow  thirty  feet  in 
a  single  season,  and  wheat  or  barley  three  inches  high 
three  days  after  planting  is  not  uncommon.  Potatoes 
(solanum  tuberosum)  have  run  up  to  fifteen  pounds  in 
weight  before  the  plant  had  time  to  blossom,  in  fact,  it 
never  did  blossom. 

Three-pound  onions,  eighty-pound  watermelons, 
and  five-hundred-pound  squash  are  not  rarities, 
and  I  have  been  told  of  a  field  of  corn,  of  the 
white  Mexican  variety,  that  grew  fourteen  feet  with 
four  perfect  ears  of  corn  to  the  stalk  with  only  twelve 
inches  of  rain.  As  for  sweet  potatoes,  or  yams,  thirty 
pounds  weight  do  not  occasion  surprise,  and  beets  after 


How  Plant  Food  is  Transformed  Into  Plats.        Wi 

two  years'  growth  are  often  as  large  as  nail  kegs,  all 
woody  fiber,  of  course,  and  unfit  for  food. 

It  is  true  that  such  examples  are  mere  experiments, 
indeed  they  may  be  called  specimens  of  "freak"  vegeta- 
tion, and  rarely  mean  perfection  of  quality,  but  they 
indicate  the  ability  of  the  plant  to  rapidly  assimilate 
from  the  soil  and  air  large,  even  excessive,  quantities 
of  the  elements  it  needs,  or  fancies,  provided  they  exist 
in  abundance,  and  they  demonstrate  that  the  farmer  has 
it  within  his  power  to  convert  this  enormous  productive 
energy  into  "quality"  of  product  by  regulating  it 
through  adequacy  of  moisture  and  cultivation  without 
excess. 

In  the  foregoing  chapters  nothing  but  the  mere 
outlines  of  the  chemistry  of  agriculture  have  been 
given.  Even  to  do  that  it  was  necessary  to  concentrate 
a  mass  of  matter  from  a  multitude  of  books,  lectures, 
personal  experiences  of  successful  farmers,  and  from 
other  sources,  to  reach  simplicity  and  clearness.  The 
books  are  full  of  never-ending  disputes  over  theories, 
doctrines  and  scientific  experiments,  relating  to  plants 
and  the  soil,  and  it  was  thought  best  to  eliminate  all 
those  disputes  and  present  the  operations  of  nature  with 
regard  to  the  soil  and  plants  in  as  simple  a  manner 
as  possible. 

There  are  many  things  mysterious  in  nature  which 
science  has  not  yet  been  able  to  explain,  and  which 
practical  experience  accepts  without  inquiring  into  rea- 
sons or  causes.  Why  do  early  potatoes  often  reach  ma- 
turity and  the  vines  die  down  before  the  latter  have  a 
chance  to  blossom  ?  What  is  the  answer  to  the  problem 
of  seedless  fruits,  such  as  oranges,  lemons,  grapes,  etc.  ? 
Why  do  certain  plants  revert  to  originals  which  have 
few  traits  in  common,  like  the  tomato,  for  instance? 
Why  do  not  the  seeds  of  plants  always  produce  the 
same  variety?  We  know  that  the  laws  of  chemistry 


104  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

are  practically  immutable,  though  their  manifestations 
may  be  irregular.  What  has  been  written,  it  is  hoped, 
will  be  of  some  benefit  toward  preparing  for  the  prac- 
tical part  of  this  book,  which  will  occupy  the  subsequent 
chapters. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

PREPARATION  OF  SOIL  FOR  PLANTING. 

One  great  object  of  cultivating  or  tilling  the  soil  is 
to  break  up  and  loosen  the  earth,  in  order  that  the  air 
may  have  free  access  to  the  dead  vegetable  matter  in  it, 
as  well  as  to  the  living  roots  which  spread  and  descend 
to  considerable  depth  beneath  its  surface. 

If  it  be  desirable  to  have  a  luxuriant  vegetation 
upon  a  given  field  of  land,  that  is,  a  good  crop,  one 
must  either  select  such  kinds  of  seed  as  will  grow  in  it, 
or  which  are  fitted  to  the  kind  of  soil  in  which  they  are 
planted,  or  change  the  nature  of  the  soil  so  as  to  adapt 
it  to  the  crop  it  is  desirable  to  raise. 

It  is  not  denied  that  plants  will  grow  in  any  soil 
that  contains  the  general  elements  essential  to  their 
existence,  but  when  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  crop 
are  considered  as  of  importance,  it  is  useless  to  "guess/* 
for  only  partial  satisfaction  will  result,  and  often  entire 
failure,  which  is  usually  attributed  to  the  elements 
or  to  the  wrath  of  Providence. 

Farming  for  profit  means  that  the  farmer  knows 
every  foot  of  his  land  and  the  nature  of  the  soil;  what 
it  will  grow  and  what  it  needs.  A  lack  of  this  knowl- 
edge is  farming  for  luck,  and  is  equivalent  to  gambling 
with  the  eyes  shut.  There  is  less  labor  and  twice  the 
profit  in  harvesting  forty  bushels  of  wheat  on  an  acre 
of  properly  cultivated  soil  than  forty  bushels  on  two 
acres  roughly  tilled.  The  case  is  the  same  with  any  sort 
of  crop,  and  this  is  so  plain  that  it  seems  absurd  to  men- 
tion it,  yet  it  is  forgotten  in  numerous  cases  of  farmers, 
who  go  more  on  quantity  of  acreage  than  perfection  of 
cultivation  and  increase  of  crop.  It  is  not  extensive 
farming  that  pays  so  well  as  concentrated  farming.  A 
man  with  one  hundred  acres  well  in  hand  is  better  off 
than  another  with  five  hundred  acres  of  struggling  crops. 
Wholesaling  in  any  business  is  more  expensive  and  the 
returns  less  than  in  retailing,  and  every  farmer  knows, 

106 


108  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

perhaps  by  bitter  experience,  that  everything  about  a 
farm  is  attended  with  expense,  if  not  always  in  cash 
money,  then  in  a  draft  upon  his  future  strength  and 
vitality.  Irrigation,  however,  promises  to  be  a  cure  for 
rambling  farming,  by  compelling  concentration.  Why 
spread  water  over  one  hundred  acres  to  raise  a  sparse 
crop  when  the  same  or  much  less  water  will  secure  a 
fine,  luxuriant  crop  ,on  twenty-five  acres?  When  a 
single  grain  of  wheat  may  be  made  to  stool  out  into  sixty 
plants,  is  not  that  better  than  when  it  stools  out  into 
only  twenty  ?  The  former  shows  health,  vigor,  and  pro- 
ductiveness, the  latter  mediocrity.  The  one  means  a 
syndicate,  the  other  a  home. 

The  new  beginner,  the  small  farmer,  reads  accounts 
of  the  great  farming  schemes,  the  thousands  and  thou- 
sands of  acres  which  run  bank  accounts  into  five  and  six 
figures.  He  dreams  of  gang  plows,  steam  plows,  com- 
bined harvesters  and  reapers,  his  fat  cattle  upon  a  thou- 
sand hills,  and  he  swells  himself  up  like  the  toad  in  the 
fable  to  equal  the  ox,  and  bursts  in  his  effort.  Let  the 
reader  desirous  of  gaining  a  competency  through  farm- 
ing, acquire  a  home  before  he  is  worn  out  in  the  strug- 
gle, before  his  patient  wife  sinks  beneath  the  sod  in  the 
effort,  and  his  children  grow  up  into  cowboys,  rustlers 
and  desperadoes,  imitate  nobody,  read  none  of  the  glow- 
ing accounts  of  successful  great  farmers  without  at  the 
same  time  understanding  that  all  such  began,  as  a  rule, 
on  enormous  capital,  took  a  magnificent  ranch  through 
the  early  demise  of  a  worn-out  ancestor,  through  a  mort- 
gage foreclosure  of  some  "imitator,"  or  raises  himself 
to  grandeur  upon  the  cheap  labor  of  his  fellowmen. 
Let  him  take  the  soil  and  treat  it  as  the  foundation  for 
a  home,  for  plenty,  and  the  other  things  will  come  to 
him. 

It  was  said  in  a  former  chapter  that  plants  are  like 
animals,  in  that  to  grow  to  perfection  they  must  be 
properly  managed  and  fed.  A  half -starved  hog  pro- 


Preparation  of  Soil.  101 

duces  poor  bacon,  a  chaff-fed  horse  has  little  energy,  the 
wool  of  a  starveling  sheep  is  coarse  and  wiry,  and  even 
a  human  being,  limited  in  his  diet  or  restricted  in 
nourishment,  possesses  a  flabby,  shriveled  brain  and  a 
weak  physical  energy.  Men  say  of  animals :  prune,  cul- 
tivate, select,  feed;  of  men:  prune,  cultivate,  feed,  and 
wherefore  not  say  the  same  of  plants  and  the  soil :  prune, 
cultivate,  feed?  Herein  is  the  whole  science  of  prepar- 
ing the  soil  for  cultivation,  the  heredity  of  plants, 
their  atavism,  their  environments,  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  and  whatever  else  may  be  said  of  animals  and 
humanity.  But  to  return  to  the  great  vegetable  king- 
dom. 

All  of  our  practical  writers  agree,  and  the  every- 
day farmer  knows  by  his  personal  experience,  that  as  the 
systems  of  roots,  branches  and  leaves  are  very  different 
in  different  vegetables,  so  they  flourish  most  in  different 
soils.  The  plants  which  have  bulbous  roots  require  a 
looser  and  a  lighter  soil  than  such  as  have  fibrous  roots, 
and  the  plants  possessing  only  short  fibrous  radicles  de- 
mand a  firmer  soil  than  such  as  have  tap  roots  or  ex- 
treme lateral  roots.  But  it  may  be  considered  as  a  tru- 
ism that  shallow  cultivation  of  the  soil  always  produces 
minimum  crops,  whereas  maximum  harvests  are  gleaned 
by  deep  plowing  whatever  may  be  the  plant. 

It  is  always  a  question  of  the  ability  of  the  roots  to 
reach  out  after  food  and  their  exposure  to  air.  To  com- 
prehend this  fully  it  should  be  considered  that  there  is 
about  as  much  of  the  plant  under  ground  as  above  it, 
and  the  experienced  farmer  can  always  tell  by  the 
growth  of  his  crop  above  ground  whether  the  roots  are 
doing  well  under  ground,  if  the  growth  is  not  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  natural  progress  of  the  plant,  there  is 
some  obstacle  below  the  surface  which  can  be  removed 
by  cultivation,  the  loosening  up  of  the  soil  to  a  sufficient 
depth.  How  quickly  growing  corn  revives  and  takes  a 
new  lease  upon  life  after  deep  cultivation  between  the 


108  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

rows!  Not  shallow  cultivating,  or  scratching  over  the 
surface,  but  'deep  plowing/  Level  with  a  shallow  culti- 
vator afterward,  of  course,  then  hoe  and  see  the  stalks 
shoot  up.  It  is  some  trouble,  certainly,  but  do  you  not 
depend  upon  a  good  crop  to  make  money,  and  to  obtain 
a  home  ?  It  is  also  a  trouble  to  raise  a  child,  but  when 
it  grows  up  straight,  is  not  the  labor  more  amply  repaid 
than  when  it  grows  up  crooked  and  stunted? 

The  character  of  the  cultivation,  however,  depends 
upon  the  condition  of  the  subsoil.  Where  that  is  hard 
or  packed,  it  must  be  broken  through,  and  up,  to  per- 
mit root  penetration.  Frequently,  not  to  say  generally, 
there  is  moisture  beneath  the  hard,  packed  sub-soil,  and 
by  breaking  through  the  moisture  finds  its  way  up  and 
"slakes"  the  hard  pan  or  other  resistant  subsoil.  There 
is  also  a  difference  in  cultivation  between  the  soils  of 
the  arid  and  the  humid  regions,  differences  which  are 
atmospheric  and  also  in  the  quantity  of  the  organic  ele- 
ments which  will  be  made  apparent  as  we  go  along. 

I  It  seems  unnecessary  to  repeat  so  simple  a  thing 
wflen  it  should  be  as  plain  as  day,  that  plants  possess 
an  instinct  that  does  not  fall  far  short  of  the  marvelous.1 
For  instance,  in  the  arid  regions  the  plant  sends  its 
roots  down  deep  and  out  in  every  direction  after  the 
moisture  which  it  apparently  knows  it  can  not  get  at 
the  surface  or  near  it,  whereas,  in  the  humid  regions, 
the  roots  spread  out  more,  because  they  apparently 
know  that  the  moisture  is  near  the  surface  and  they 
do  not  have  to  toil  so  hard  to  make  their  way  down 
deep.  Anyone  practicing  surface  irrigation  will  know 
that  the  roots  of  plants  which  have  a  habit  of  penetrat- 
ing deep  into  the  soil,  grow  along  the  surface,  because 
the  moisture  is  there.  Plants  always  adopt  the  easiest 
method  of  obtaining  food. 

Now  why  do  plants  travel  after  moisture  and  not 
after  dry  soil?  It  is  not  water  plants  need,  nor  is  it 
moisture,  but  it  is  food.  They  know  that  there  is  food 


Preparation  of  Soil.  109 

material  in  the  dry  soils,  but  it  is  not  in  a  fit  condition 
to  be  absorbed,  whereas,  moisture  prepares  the  food  for 
them,  hence  they  refrain  from  pursuing  the  raw  ma- 
terial and  expend  their  energies  in  seeking  the  manu- 
factured product.  Let  a  garden  patch  which  has  been 
kept  moist,  and  in  which  the  roots  congregate,  be  allowed 
to  dry,  and  another  patch  that  has  been  dry  and  away 
from  which  the  roots  turn,  be  moistened,  and  the  plants 
will  grow  away  from  their  former  hunting  ground  and 
in  the  direction  of  the  new  one.  This  is  common  ob- 
servation. A  beet  root  has  been  known  to  travel  sixteen 
feet  in  the  direction  of  a  well  where  it  knew  it  could 
get  a  drink,  although  plants,  as  a  rule,  are  not  drinkers 
but  feeders  of  the  most  pronounced  Epicurean  type. 

In  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions  it  is  better  to 
provide  for  a  deep  burrowing  of  the  roots,  because  when 
they  frequent  the  surface,  they  are  liable  to  suffer  from 
drought,  or  surface  dryness.  In  this  the  reader  will 
find  an  argument  in  favor  of  sub-irrigation. 

Upon  this  instinct  of  roots  to  seek  their  proper  food 
in  moist  soil,  depends  the  measurement  of  soil  tillage, 
whether  deep  or  shallow,  and  by  "shallow"  is  not  meant 
a  mere  surface  scratching,  but  a  good  wholesome  up- 
heaval of  the  soil  from  a  depth  of  eight  to  twelve  inches, 
thence  on  up  to  eighteen  if  the  subsoil  be  in  question. 
Where  the  subsoil  is  not  hard  packed,  then  as  deep  as 
the  subsoil;  if  packed  it  should  be  broken  up.  But 
where  the  subsoil  is  open  and  porous  there  is  less  need 
of  deep  plowing ;  on  the  contrary,  it  may  be  necesary  to 
pack  the  bottom  of  the  furrow,  which  is  accomplished 
by  a  plow  attachment  known  as  a  "packer,"  so  arranged 
as  to  follow  the  plow  and  press  down  the  earth  at  the 
bottom  of  the  furrow;  a  useful  contrivance  where  irri- 
gation is  practiced,  inasmuch  as  it  tends  to  prevent  the 
leaching  of  the  irrigation  water  down  into  the  porous 
subsoil,  where  the  water  is  run  into  the  furrows. 


110  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

It  can  not  be  too  strongly  impressed  upon  the 
reader  that  the  soil  must  be  so  cultivated  that  it  will 
retain  moisture  without  permitting  it  to  leach  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  roots,  and  at  the  same  time  so  broken 
up  and  pulverized  that  the  roots  may  easily  penetrate. 
Let  this  be  the  axiom  constantly  in  mind:  Give  the 
plant  roots  room  to  spread.  Upon  this  depends  the 
perfection  of  the  plant.  "Stunts"  are  always  caused  by 
too  little  root  room,  the  plant  languishing  because 
they_are  unable  to  reach  moisture  by  reason  of  obstacles 
in  the  soil.  If  there  is  any  moisture  in  the  soil  the 
plant  will  get  it  if  it  be  given  an  opportunity. 

Let  us  assume  that  we  have  a  parcel  of  land  in 
which  it  is  purposed  to  grow  plants  without  the  appli- 
cation of  manure.  It  does  not  matter  whether  it  be 
virgin  soil  or  one  that  has  already  grown  a  crop  of  any 
kind;  the  first  thing  to  be  done  to  this  land  is  to  im- 
prove the  soil,  that  is,  prepare  it  for  vegetation.  This 
may  be  done  in  seven  ways : 

First — By  cultivation,  or,  more  properly  speaking, 
pulverization  of  the  soil,  by  plowing  and  other  mechan- 
ical means  of  reducing  its  consistency. 

Second — By  mechanical  consolidation. 

Third — By  exposure  to  the  atmosphere;  that  is, 
"fallowing." 

Fourth — By  alteration  of  its  constituent  parts. 

Fifth — By  changing  its  condition  in  respect  to 
water. 

Sixth — By  changing  its  position  in  respect  to  at- 
mospheric influences. 

Seventh — By  a  change  in  the  kinds  of  plants  cul- 
tivated, or  "rotation  of  crops." 

PLOWING  AND  PULVERIZING. 

All  these  different  methods  of  preparing  the  soil 
means  practically  the  same  thing — the  breaking  up  of 
the  soil,  which  must  be  done  constantly  if  a  good  crop 
in  quantity  and  quality  be  desirable. 


OF  THE 

(UNIVERSITY 

Preparation  of  SOl^S  „, 

By  reason  of  their  chemical  elements  the  tendency 
of  all  soils  is  to  concrete;  that  is,  to  run  together  into 
a  sort  of  more  or  less  hard  cement,  a  tendency  enhanced 
by  the  growing  of  crops  and  the  application  of  water, 
or  either.  Thus,  sand  without  consistency  and  quick- 
lime without  coherence,  when  mixed  together  with 
water,  produce  a  hard  cement  or  plaster,  which  may  be 
crushed  and  pulverized  before  it  can  become  again  man- 
ageable. In  soil  the  chemical  agencies  of  nature  are 
constantly  at  work  to  produce  the  same  result;  hence 
cultivation  to  break  up  a  tendency  which  is  adverse 
to  the  growth  of  plants  and  free  root  penetration. 

The  very  first  object  of  cultivation  is  to  give  scope 
to  the  roots  of  plants  to  spread  in  every  direction,  for 
without  abundance  of  roots  no  plant  can  become  vigor- 
ous, whatever  may  be  the  richness  of  the  soil  in  which 
it  is  placed.  The  quantity  of  food  taken  from  the  soil 
does  not  depend  alone  upon  the  quantity  in  the  soil, 
but  on  the  number  of  absorbing  root  fibres.  The  more 
the  soil  is  pulverized  the  more  the  fibres  are  increased, 
the  more  food  is  obtained,  and  the  more  vigorous  the 
plant  becomes.  Any  house  plant  growing  in  an  earthen- 
ware pot  will  demonstrate  this.  The  roots  grow  down 
and  then,  finding  an  obstruction,  begin  growing  round 
and  round  in  search  of  food,  until  the  entire  pot  is 
filled  with  root  fibres,  even  forcing  out  the  soil  to  find 
room,  and  when  they  have  grown  to  the  limit  of  their 
confined  space,  the  plant  stops  growing  and  becomes 
sickly. 

This  cultivation  or  stirring  up  of  the  soil  for  root 
expansion  is  not  only  essentially  precious  to  planting, 
or  sowing,  but  highly  beneficial  afterward,  during  the 
progress  of  vegetaHon ;  and  when  practiced  in  the  spaces 
between  the  plants  it  also  operates  as  a  method  of 
root-pruning,  by  which  the  extended  fibres  are  cut  off, 
or  shortened,  thereby  causing  them  to  throw  out  numer- 
ous other  fibres  whereby  the  mouths  or  pores  of  the 


112  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

plants  are  greatly  increased,  and  their  food  capacity 
enhanced.  It  is  very  much  like  fattening  animals  for 
market  by  encouraging  their  consumption  of  fattening 
food. 

Cultivation  renders  capillary  attraction  more  uni- 
form, this  peculiarity  of  the  soil  being  greater  when  the 
particles  of  earth  are  finely  divided.  Thus,  gravels  and 
sands  scarcely  retain  water  at  all,  while  clays,  not  opened 
by  pulverization  or  other  means  of  breaking  them  up, 
either  do  not  readily  absorb  water,  or  when  exposed 
to  long  action,  they  retain  too  much  of  it.  In  the  arid 
regions  deep  cultivation  is  essential  to  admit  moisture 
from  the  atmosphere,  as  for  example,  the  dews  of  night. 
In  irrigated  sections  deep  and  thorough  cultivation 
checks  evaporation  and  reduces  the  accumulation  of 
alkali  salts  to  a  minimum,  besides  saving  water. 

Heat  is  tempered  by  deep  cultivation,  which  is  a 
great  desideratum  in  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions,  the 
layer  of  pulverized  soil  serving  the  purpose  of  shade 
or  mulch,  and  the  evaporation  retarded,  the  moisture 
acquires  a  uniform  temperature.  This  seems  to  be  a 
small  matter  in  plant  growth,  but  practical  experience 
has  demonstrated  that  it  is  an  important  part  of  the 
general  combination  of  practices  which  result  in  suc- 
cessful agriculture. 

Whenever  the  soil  is  opened,  turned  over  and  oth- 
erwise prepared  for  planting,  a  portion  of  the  atmos- 
pheric air  is  buried  in  the  soil  and  this  air  so  confined, 
is  decomposed  by  the  moisture  retained  in  the  earthy 
matters.  Ammonia  is  formed  by  the  union  of  the 
hydrogen  of  the  water  with  the  nitrogen  of  the  atmos- 
phere, and  nitre  by  the  union  of  oxygen  and  nitrogen. 
So  also,  the  oxygen  of  the  air  may  unite  with  the  car- 
bon contained  in  the  soil  and  from  carbonic  acid  gas. 
Heat  is  given  out  during  all  these  chemical  processes. 
As  a  rule  farmers  do  not  pay  much  attention  to  these 
simple  facts,  but  the  plants  he  is  growing  do,  and  tjiey 


Preparation  of  Soil.  113 

are  more  or  less  benefited  as  they  are  permitted  to  take 
advantage  of  these  laws  of  nature,  or  prevented. 

The  depth  of  cultivation  must  depend  upon  the 
nature  of  the  soil  and  the  variety  of  plant  grown  in  it. 
The  subsoil,  also,  is  not  to  be  disregarded.  Eich  clayey 
soils  can  hardly  be  cultivated  too  deep,  and  even  in 
sands,  unless  the  subsoil  contains  alkali  in  dangerous 
quantities,  or  other  plant  poisons,  deep  cultivation 
should  be  practiced.  When  the  roots  are  deep  they  are 
less  liable  to  be  injured  by  excessive  water  or  drought; 
the  radicles  are  shot  forth  into  every  part  of  the  soil, 
the  space  from  which  nourishment  is  to  be  drawn  be- 
ing extended  over  a  much  greater  extent  than  when  the 
seed  is  superficially  inserted  in  the  soil. 

In  this  respect  cultivation  should  be  attended  with 
a  thorough  mixture  of  the  soil  by  turning  it  over  and 
over.  Plowing,  of  course,  accomplishes  this  result  in 
a  great  measure,  but  the  difference  of  gravity  between 
the  organic  and  the  inorganic  matters  in  the  earth, 
has  a  tendency  to  separate  them,  for  which  reason  light 
or  shallow  stirring  of  the  soil  is  of  little  or  no  use 
practically,  because  it  leaves  the  surface  of  the  soil  too 
light  and  spongy  and  the  lower  part  too  compact  and 
earthy.  Even  where  the  plant  roots  are  near  the  sur- 
face cultivation  with  a  plow  and  a  complete  turning 
over  of  the  soil  is  much  better  than  the  mere  scratching 
of  the  surface,  for  there,  as  has  been  said,  it  is  equiva- 
lent to  root  pruning. 

In  a  former  chapter  reference  is  made  to  the  fact 
that  plant  roots  consume  all  the  food  in  their  neigh- 
borhood, and  this  furnishes  another  obvious  reason  for 
deep  cultivation,  otherwise  the  roots  of  a  new  crop  reach* 
ing  out  for  nourishment  find  an  empty  cupboard. 

Some  soils,  however,  require  the  opposite  of  pul- 
verization and  demand  mechanical  consolidation.  This 
will  be  understood  in  the  case  of  spongy  peats  and  light, 
dusty  sands.  A  proper  degree  of  adhesiveness  is  best 


114  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

given  loose  soils  by  the  addition  of  earthy  matters  in 
which  they  are  deficient,  perhaps  the  bringing  up  of 
a  heavier  and  more  consistent  subsoil  will  accomplish 
the  purpose.  Rolling  and  treading,  however,  are  simple 
methods,  but  in  that  case  the  soil  must  be  dry,  and 
the  operation  must  not  be  carried  too  far,  or  so  far 
as  to  concrete  the  earth,  which  is  its  constant  tendency, 
as  has  been  observed. 

A  peat  bog  drained  and  rolled  will  sooner  become 
covered  with  grass  than  one  equally  well  drained  but 
left  to  itself.  Drifting  sands,  however,  may  well  be 
rolled  when  wet,  and  by  repeating  the  process  after  rains 
or  floodings,  they  will  in  time  acquire  a  surface  of 
grass  or  herbage.  Light  soils  should  always  be  rolled, 
and  the  seeds  should  be  "tread  in"  when  planted,  a 
pat  with  the  hoe  not  being  sufficient,  as  in  the  case 
of  heavier  soils,  unless  the  seeds  be  very  small. 

Exposure  to  the  atmosphere,  speaking  with  refer- 
ence to  soils,  means  "lying  fallow,"  the  only  benefit  of 
which,  and  sometimes  it  is  not  a  small  one,  is  to  ex- 
pose insects  and  their  eggs,  weeds  and  their  seeds,  to 
destruction.  In  climates  where  there  are  severe  win- 
ters and  hard  frosts,  a  hard,  lumpy  soil  becomes  pulver- 
ized by  the  action  of  the  frost,  and  soils  that  have  be- 
come soured,  sodden  and  baked  by  the  tread  of  cattle  or 
other  cause  in  wet  weather,  are  more  rapidly  sweetened 
and  restored  to  friability  by  exposure  to  the  hot  sun  of 
summer,  than  by  the  frosts  of  winter.  Some  maintain 
that  the  only  benefit  of  fallow,  that  is,  turning  up  the 
soil  roughly  to  the  atmosphere,  is  to  free  the  soil  from 
the  roots  of  weeds.  There  is  nothing,  indeed,  in  the 
idea  that  the  land  "needs  a  rest,"  for  if  properly  culti- 
vated, soil  will  keep  on  producing  as  long  as  there  are 
any  elements  capable  of  feeding  plants.  The  idea  origi- 
nated in  ancient  times  when  lack  of  help  to  till  the 
entire  farm,  or  a  deficient  supply  of  manure,  compelled 
the  suspension  of  cultivation  on  certain  parcels  or  fields. 


of  So*.  Hi 

It  is  certain  that  what  is  called  an  "exhausted  soil"  ob- 
tains no  renewing  material  from  the  atmosphere. 

To  alter  a  soil  is  to  add  or  subtract  the  ingredients 
which  are  lacking,  or  which  exist  in  excess.  The  so- 
called  "alkali  soils"  are  an  illustration  of  excessive  in- 
gredients, and  any  sterile,  sandy  or  gravelly  soil  may 
be  regarded  as  one  representing  a  deficiency  of  food 
producing  elements.  In  case  of  sterility,  the  only  rem- 
edy is  to  add  the  ingredients  lacking,  or  convert  sterile 
material  into  fertile  ones  by  chemical  means.  Thus : 
where  in  sterile  soil,  on  washing  it,  there  is  found  the 
salts  of  iron  or  acid  matters,  the  application  of  quick- 
lime will  ameliorate  it,  and  in  a  soil  of  apparently  good 
texture,  but  sterile  on  account  of  the  sulphate  of  iron, 
a  top  dressing  of  lime  will  afford  a  remedy  Toy  converting 
the  sulphate  into  a  manure. 

If  there  be  an  excess  of  calcareous  matter  in  the 
soil  it  may  be  remedied  by  the  application  of  sand  or 
clay.  Too  much  sand  is  improved  by  clay,  marl,  or  veg- 
etable matter,  and  light  sands  are  benefited  by  a  dress- 
ing of  peats,  and  peats  improved  by  adding  sand.  The 
labor  of  thus  improving  the  texture  or  constitution  of 
the  soil  is  more  than  repaid  by  the  requirement  of  less 
manure,  in  fact,  accretions  in  the  way  of  new  soil  are  a 
natural  manuring  and  insure  the  fertility  of  the  soil, 
where  manure  might  be  doubtful  on  account  of  its  adding 
an  excess  of  organic  matter,  which  is  equally  as  deleteri- 
ous to  plant  growth  as  too  much  inorganic  matter.  An 
equal  number  of  tons  of  sand,  clay,  marl,  or  other  natural 
soil,  as  of  manure,  will  often  tend  to  greater  productive- 
ness than  from  the  addition  of  manure.  When  there 
is  an  excess  or  superabundance  of  soil  material,  the 
problem  of  its  removal  is  much  more  difficult  and  seri- 
ous, the  reclamation  of  alkali  lands  abundantly  demon- 
strating this.  Ordinary  sand  and  gravel  may  be  plowed 
under,  scraped  from  the  surface,  or  partly  washed  off 
by  flooding,  particularly  where  the  lay  of  the  land 


116  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

is  sloping.  In  the  case  of  alkali,  as  has  already  been 
said,  drainage,  or  exhaustion  of  the  soil  by  the  culti- 
vation of  gross  feeding  plants  seems  to  be  the  reason- 
able remedy ;  at  all  events  it  proves  effectual. 

Burning  over  the  soil  was  an  ancient  method,  one 
used  by  the  Eomans  to  alter  the  constituents  of  the 
soil,  the  object  being  to  render  the  soil  less  compact, 
less  tenacious,  and  less  retentive  of  moisture  by  destroy- 
ing the  elements  that  tend  toward  holding  it  in  a  con- 
crete consistency. 

It  is  practiced  in  the  United  States  for  the  same 
purpose,  but  in  the  vast  areas  of  the  boundless  West, 
where  a  man  is  not  limited  to  a  small  acreage  of  the 
soil,  it  is  not  regarded  as  worth  the  labor,  although  it 
might  in  many  instances  be  beneficial.  The  soils  im- 
proved by  burning  are  all  such  as  contain  too  much  dead 
vegetable  fiber,  by  the  burning  of  which  they  lose 
from  one-third  to  one-half  of  their  weight.  So  stiff 
clays,  adobes,  hardpans,  and  marls  are  improved  by 
burning.  But  in  the  case  of  coarse  sands,  or  where 
the  elements  of  the  soil  are  properly  balanced,  burning 
is  detrimental,  and  the  same  is  the  case  in  silicious  sandy 
soils  after  they  have  once  been  brought  into  cultivation. 

As  to  changing  the  condition  of  lands  in  respect 
to  water,  the  subject  belongs  to  irrigation,  but  it  may 
be  said  here  in  passing,  the  land  should  be  cultivated, 
having  in  mind  the  flowing  of  water,  whether  from 
irrigation  or  rain,  so  as  to  avoid  the  accumulation  of 
stagnant  water,  which  is  injurious  to  all  classes  of  use- 
ful plants.  When  the  surface  soil  is  properly  consti- 
tuted and  rests  on  a  subsoil  moderately  porous,  both 
will  hold  water  by  capillary  attraction,  and  what  is  not 
so  retained  will  sink  into  the  substrata  by  its  gravity; 
but  when  the  subsoil  is  retentive,  it  will  resist  the  per- 
colation of  water  to  the  strata  below  and  thus  accumu- 
late in  the  surface  soil,  and,  making  the  latter  "soggy," 
will  cause  disease  to  the  plants.  Hence  the  origin  of 


Preparation  of  Soil  111 

surface  draining,  that  is,  laying  land  in  ridges  or  beds, 
or  intersecting  it  with  small,  open  gutters,  a  very  good 
practice  where  irrigating  water  is  used,  for  into  them 
the  water  may  be  turned  and  then  plowed  over,  left 
to  come  up  to  the  surface  where  the  plant  roots  can 
reach  it.  The  alteration  of  land  by  water  will  be  treat- 
ed in  detail  in  its  proper  place  under  the  head  of  "Irri- 
gation." 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  effect  of  the  sun's 
rays  on  land,  and  add  here  that  in  cultivating,  there 
is  one  advantage  in  ridging  lands  and  making  the  ridges 
run  north  and  south,  for  on  such  surfaces  the  rays 
of  the  morning  sun  will  take  effect  sooner  on  the  east 
side,  and  those  of  the  afternoon  on  the  west  side,  while 
at  mid-day  the  sun's  elevation  will  compensate  for  the 
obliquity  of  its  rays  to  both  sides  of  the  ridge.  In 
gardening  there  is  much  advantage  in  observing  this 
method  of  cultivation,  for  the  reason  that  much  earlier 
crops  may  be  produced  than  on  a  level  ground.  Thus, 
sloping  beds  for  winter  crops  may  be  made  southeast 
and  northwest,  with  their  slope  to  the  south,  at  an 
angle  of  forty  degrees,  and  as  steep  on  the  north  side  as 
the  mass  of  earth  can  be  got  to  stand.  On  the  south 
slope  of  such  ground  of  course  the  crops  will  be  earlier 
than  on  level  ground.  There  is  little  advantage  of 
this  sloping,  however,  unless  perfection  of  garden  prod- 
uce is  desirable,  although  the  advantage  of  sloping  is 
a  diminution  of  evaporation  and  also  a  ready  natural 
drainage. 

Although  rotation  of  crops  will  be  treated  in  a 
special  chapter,  the  subject  has  a  bearing  upon  cultiva- 
tion, or  treatment  of  the  soil,  since  the  necessity  for  a 
rotation  of  crops  seems  to  grow  out  of  a  diminution  of 
certain  plant  foods  desirable  to  certain  plants,  and 
there  are  many  species  of  plants  which  require  particu- 
lar substances  to  bring  their  seeds  or  fruits  to  perfec- 
tion. It  may  be  that  these  particular  substances  are 


Wl  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

in  the  soil  but  beyond  the  reach  of  the  plant.  In  that 
case  it  is  clear  that  a  thorough  mixing  of  the  elements 
of  the  soil  will  bring  the  appropriate  food  within  reach 
of  the  plant,  or,  if  that  can  not  be  done,  then  the  plant- 
ing of  some  other  crop,  and  permitting  it  to  return 
back  into  the  soil,  will  afford  the  required  food  for  the 
desired  plant.  In  this  place,  cultivation  and  thorough 
mixing  is  advised.  In  the  proper  chapter  the  whole  sub- 
ject will  be  treated  in  detail. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  root  and  soil  pecu- 
liarities of  well  known  plants: 

Wheat — Has  feeble  roots  at  surface,  but  strong  tap 
roots  penetrating  deep  into  the  soil.  Stiff  soil. 

Oats — Next  to  wheat,  will  stand  stiff  soil,  but  the 
plant  throws  out  in  the  superficial  layer  of  soil  a  num- 
ber of  fine  feeders  in  lateral  directions,  and  hence  the 
top  soil  should  be  light  and  open. 

Barley — It  throws  out  a  network  of  fine,  short  root 
fibers  of  no  great  depth  and  requires  a  light,  open  loam. 

Peas — Eequire  a  loose  soil,  with  little  cohesion,  and 
spread  soft  root  fibers  deep. 

Beans — Eamify  strong,  woody  roots  in  all  direc- 
tions, even  in  a  heavy  and  compact  soil. 

Clover — Grass  seeds  and  small  seeds  generally  put 
forth  at  first  feeble  roots  of  small  extent,  and  require  so 
much  the  greater  care  in  preparing  the  soil  to  insure 
their  healthy  growth.  The  pressure  of  a  layer  of  earth 
a  half  to  one  inch  thick  suffices  to  prevent  germination. 
Such  seeds  require  only  just  as  much  earth  to  cover 
them  as  will  retain  the  needful  moisture  for  germina- 
tion. 

Turnips,  potatoes,  etc. — The  nature  of  these  fleshy 
and  tuberous  roots  clearly  point  out  the  part  of  the  soil 
from  which  they  draw  their  chief  supply  of  food.  Po- 
tatoes are  found  in  the  topmost  layers  of  soil,  whereas 
the  roots  of  beets,  turnips,  parsnips,  etc.,  send  their 
ramifications  deep  into  the  subsoil,  and ''will  succeed 


Preparation  of  Soil.  IW 

best  in  a  loose  soil  of  great  depth.  Still  they  grow  well 
in  heavy  and  compact  soil  properly  prepared  for  their 
reception. 

As  to  the  length  of  roots  it  has  been  found  that 
alfalfa  will  grow  roots  thirty  feet,  flax  five  feet,  clover 
above  six  feet,  etc.,  and  beets  have  been  known  to  send 
out  a  long,  tapering  root  sixteen  feet  along  the  surface, 
an  instance  of  which  has  been  already  noted. 

It  is  on  the  root  that  the  farmer  should  bestow  his 
whole  care.  Over  that  which  grows  from  it  he  has 
no  control,  except  perhaps  in  the  way  of  pruning  or  bud 
"pinching/'  as  in  the  case  of  tobacco,  melons,  fruits, 
etc. 


CHAPTER  X. 

LATINO  OUT  OP  THE  LAND — METHOD  OP  PLANTING. 

Generally  speaking  every  farmer  has  his  land  under 
his  eye  and  knows  what  to  do  with  particular  portions 
of  the  ground.  He  will  plant  wheat  in  this  field, 
barley  over  yonder,  further  along  he  expects  to  have 
a  patch  of  rye. 

In  the  case  of  vegetables  he  follows  the  same  prac- 
tice and  plants  his  cabbages,  his  beets,  turnips,  etc., 
wherever  the  fancy  moves  him.  It  is  a  haphazard 
manner  of  farming,  and  to  it  may  be  attributed  fail- 
ures which  have  been  ascribed  to  the  elements.  From 
what  has  been  heretofore  said  it  must  be  apparent  that 
there  is  something  in  soil  and  in  the  manner  of  plant- 
ing which  it  would  be  well  to  heed ;  indeed,  which  must 
be  heeded  if  success  be  desired  and  a  crop  assured. 
True,  plants  will  grow  if  the  seed  be  thrust  in  the 
ground;  that  is,  after  a  fashion;  and  so  will  an  ani- 
mal grow  if  kept  alive  after  a  fashion,  but  the  pro- 
duce in  both  cases  will  be  scrub. 

The  time  is  coming,  if  it  has  not  already  arrived, 
when  farmers  will  be  able  to  produce  as  much  from 
half  an  acre  of  ground  as  from  an  acre,  and  better 
crops.  Too  much  land  is  as  great  a  bar  to  success  as 
too  little,  for  in  the  former  case  there  is  too  much 
trusting  to  luck,  whereas  in  utilizing  nature  for  the 
purpose  of  wresting  products  from  the  bosom  of  the 
earth  there  is  not  the  smallest  element  of  luck;  it  is 
all  pure  science,  knowledge,  ability,  etc.  A  man  with 
the  trifling  commercial  business  keeps  an  account  of 
stock,  his  books  show  just  what  he  has  on  hand,  his 
sales  and  purchases.  His  inventory  shows  where  his 
varieties  of  goods  are  located  on  his  shelves.  But  when  it 
comes  to  a  farm,  which  is  never  a  small  business,  no 
books  are  kept,  no  account  of  stock  taken,  and  the 

120 


Laying  Out  of  the  Land— Method  of  Pht*i*c.       121 

location  of  his  crops  are  retained  in  his  mind's  eye. 
More  than  that,  quality  is  little  regarded,  the  varieties 
of ''soil  are  not  considered,  and  plants  requiring  one 
kind  of  soil  are  fed  on  a  kind  they  do  not  flourish 
in.  This  is  the  common  rule. 

Take  any  tract  of  land,  large  or  small,  and  when 
the  crop  is  growing  there  will  always  be  spots  where 
the  plants  are  thin,  sparse  and  sickly.  Failure  of  proper 
cultivation?  Not  at  all;  nothing  but  failure  to  prop- 
erly lay  out  the  land  so  as  to  know  what  it  is  suitable 
for.  The  pollen  of  a  sickly  plant  spreads  as  far  as 
that  of  a  good  healthy  one,  and  poor  results  are  attrib- 
uted to  poor  seed,  etc.,  when  a  little  care  and  fore- 
thought might  have  made  the  crop  uniform  and  the 
results  satisfactory. 

This  is  preparatory  to  the  subject  of  laying  out 
the  land,  for  upon  doing  that  properly  depends  the 
success  it  is  always  desirable  to  attain  in  every  species 
of  farming  for  profit.  If  profit  be  not  the  desideratum, 
then  why  go  to  the  trouble  and  labor  of  farming? 

The  proper  laying  out  of  the  land  is  always  of 
great  importance,  and  where  irrigation  is  practiced  it 
is  of  the  highest  importance.  Water  runs  down  hill 
and  it  also  soaks  into  the  soil  seeking  the  water  table, 
and  this  water  table  is  always  receiving  additions 
through  the  constant  or  periodical  application  of  irri- 
gation water,  and  rises  to  do  damage. 

Hence,  drainage  is  to  be  considered  as  well  as  the 
slope  of  the  land.  The  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  pre- 
pare an  outline  of  the  land,  its  boundaries.  If  a  square 
tract  the  matter  will  be  easy,  for  any  sized  square  may 
be  laid  down  upon  paper  and  then  measured  off  into 
acres  or  parts  of  acres  to  suit  the  convenience.  A  map 
of  one's  land  is  a  necessity  nowadays,  and  it  is  not  dif- 
ficult to  prepare  one.  It  is  the  farmer's  diagram  of 
the  location  of  his  stock,  equivalent  to  the  shelves  in  a 


122  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

store  of  merchandise.  It  tells  him  the  location  of  his 
crops,  the  nature  of  the  soil,  his  ditches  and  all  their 
ramifications,  and  if  anything  goes  wrong  he  can  im- 
mediately put  his  finger  on  the  point  of  trouble  and 
go  at  once  to  correct  it. 

To  prepare  a  map  of  the  land  measurements  must 
be  taken,  and  these  measurements  are  expressed  in  tables 
universally  adopted  and  can  therefore  always  be  relied 
upon  as  uniform.  To  begin  with,  an  acre  of  land, 
whatever  its  shape,  contains  exactly  43,560  square  feet, 
and  after  an  outline  has  been  traced  upon  paper,  lines 
may  be  drawn  from  side  to  side  and  these  lines  crossed 
by  other  lines  drawn  from  top  to  bottom.  The  map 
will  then  be  covered  with  little  squares  which  may  be 
any  part  of  an  inch  in  size,  but  representing  a  given 
quantity  of  land;  say  one  inch  square  on  the  paper 
represents  an  acre  of  ground;  then  if  you  have  a  farm 
of  100  acres  your  map  will  be  ten  inches  square,  if  the 
land  is  a  square,  but  whatever  the  shape  of  the  land  it 
will  contain  exactly  100  square  inches.  Not  a  very 
large  map,  but  very  convenient,  for  on  it  may  be  ex- 
pressed the  exact  location  of  crops,  even  to  a  small  cab- 
bage patch,  ditches,  farm  buildings,"  orchards,  vines, 
etc.,  etc.  Of  course  any  scale  to  the  acre  may  be  se- 
lected instead  of  one  inch.  If  the  farm  is  large  then 
make  the  scale  one-half  inch  to  the  acre  or  even  less,  or 
if  small  make  the  scale  two  inches  or  more,  to  allow 
of  the  least  details. 

If  it  is  desirable  to  make  an  accurate  estimate  of 
the  amount  of  land  in  different  fields  under  cultiva- 
tion, the  following  table  will  be  of  assistance: 

10x  16  rods  equals  1  A.  70x  69.5  yards  equals  1  A. 

fix  20  rods  equals  1  A.  220x198      feet    equals  1  A. 

5x  32  rods  equals  1  A.  440x  99      feet   equals  1  A. 

4x  40  rods  equals  lA.  110x369      feet   equals  1A. 

5x968  yards  equals  1  A.  60x726      feet   equals  1  A. 

10x484  yards  equals  1  A.  120x363      feet   equals  1  A. 


I 


Laying  Out  of  the  Land— Method  of  Planting.       128 

20x242     yards  equals  1  A.        240x181.5    feet    equals  1  A.  S) 
40x121     yards  equals  1  A.        200x108.9    feet    equals  1  A.    - 
80x  60.5  yards  equals  1  A.        TOxTJ5.2    feet    equals  1  A.    *7 

100x108.9  feet  equals  V*     A.  * * 

25x100      feet  equals  .0574  A. 

25x110      feet  equals  .0631  A. 

25x120      feet  equals  .0688  A. 

25x125      feet  equals  .0717  A. 

25x150      feet  equals  .109   A. 

2178       sq.  feet  squals  .05     A. 

4356       sq.  feet  equals  .10     A. 

6534       sq.  feet  equals  .15     A. 

8712       sq.  feet  equals  .20     A. 

10890       sq.  feet  equals  .25     A. 

13068       sq.  feet  equals  .30     A. 

15246       sq.  feet  equals  .35     A. 

17424       sq.  feet  equals  .40     A. 

19603       sq.  feet  equals  .45     A. 

21780       sq.  feet  equals  .50     A. 

32670       sq.  feet  equals  .75     A. 

34848       sq.  feet  equals  .80     A. 

In  measuring  land  there  are  three  distinct  opera- 
tions to  be  performed:  Taking  the  dimensions  of  the 
tract;  delineating  or  laying  down  the  same  on  a  map, 
and  calculating  the  area  or  superficial  contents.  All 
the  tables  applicable  to  land  measurements  will  be 
found  in  the  Appendix,  to  which  the  reader  is  referred. 

For  ordinary  purposes  a  knotted  cord  or  tape-line 
may  be  used.  In  measuring  a  simple  figure,  as  a 
square  field,  nothing  is  necessary  but  to  measure  the 
length  and  the  breadth,  which,  multiplied  together,  will 
give  the  superficial  area.  Where  fields  are  irregular 
shaped,  it  is  necessary  to  adopt  some  standard  guiding 
form,  and  from  that  measure  the  different  angles,  so 
as  to  be  able,  from  the  dimensions  taken,  either  to 
calculate  the  contents  at  once,  or  to  lay  downihe  form 
of  the  field  on  paper  according  to  the  scale  adopted, 
and  from  that  ascertain  its  dimensions  and  calculate 
its  contents. 

The  simplest  and  most  accurate  mode  of  ascertain- 
ing the  contents  of  all  irregular  figures  is  to  throw 


124  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

them  into  triangles,  and  this  method  is  usually  employed 
whether  a  small  piece  of  irregular  shaped  land  is  to  be 
measured  or  a  vast  extent  of  territory.  To  find  the 
contents  of  a  triangle  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  mul- 
tiply half  the  perpendicular  by  the  base.  And  this  re- 
gardless of  the  shape  of  the  triangle.  In  measuring 
land  in  this  manner,  and  by  a  little  calculation,  every 
foot  of  land  can  easily  be  represented  on  paper. 

TAKING  THE  LEVEL. 

After  the  land  is  accurately  measured,  or  measured 
satisfactorily  to  its  owner,  taking  the  level  of  its  sur- 
face is  the  next  thing  in  order,  and  in  this  there  can 
not  be  too  much  care  taken,  particularly  where  irri- 
gation is  practiced.  Upon  it  depends  the  proper  flow 
of  water  in  ditches,  the  flooding  of  land  and  adequate 
drainage. 

To  explain  it  will  be  necessary  to  be  a  little  ab- 
struse, but  the  idea  will  be  readily  grasped  by  think- 
ing. The  earth  is  a  sphere,  that  is,  "round/*  and  all 
places  on  its  surface,  whether  a  ten-acre  tract  or  one 
of  ten  thousand,  are  said  to  be  "level"  when  they  are 
equally  distant  from  the  center  of  the  earth,  and  "out 
of  level"  when  their  distances  from  that  center  are  not 
equal. 

Now,  because  the  earth  is  a  sphere,  or  round,  every 
level  line  drawn  upon  its  surface  from  one  point  to 
another,  must  be  a  curve  and  part  of  the  earth's  circum- 
ference, assuming  it  to  be  perfectly  smooth,  or  at 
least  parallel  with  it. 

The  common  methods  of  leveling  are  sufficient  for 
irrigation  on  an  ordinary  tract  of  land,  but  for  long 
canals  and  ditches  miles  in  extent,  the  leveling  must 
be  in  accordance  with  the  curved  level  line  to  corre- 
spond with  the  surface  of  the  earth  equi-distant  from 
its  surface.  The  usual  instrument  for  leveling  is  the 
road  or  mason's  level  with  telescope  and  compass,  the 
latter  to  get  the  bearings.  For  ditching  purposes  a 


Laying  Out  of  the  Land— Method  of  Planting,       125 

"plumb-bob"  level,  a  two-legged  contrivance  open  like 
the  letter  A  with  a  line  fastened  at  the  top  and  ter- 
minating in  a  pear,  or  "top"  shaped  piece  of  lead.  In 
the  exact  center  of  the  bar  across  the  A  is  marked  a 
notch,  and  when  the  point  of  the  "bob"  is  at  that 
center  notch,  the  line  is  level.  Illustrations  of  this 
and  other  contrivances  for  leveling  land  will  be  found 
elsewhere,  and  referred  to  in  the  synoptical  index  so 
as  to  be  easily  found. 

To  continue  the  level  line  a  series  of  poles  are 
necessary.  These  are  so  placed  that  the  one  nearest 
the  eye  conceals  all  the  rest.  To  allow  for  inequalities 
of  surface,  a  notch  is  cut  in  the  starting  pole,  or  at 
the  point  where  the  level  line  begins,  and  that  point 
must  be  level  with  it  all  along  the  line.  A  small  spirit 
level  held  to  each  pole,  and  the  eye  will  demonstrate 
the  exact  level  line  for  all  practical  purposes.  This 
method  is  sufficient  for  small  areas,  to  lay  the  level 
of  a  ditch,  or  its  laterals,  but  in  large  tracts,  of  course, 
a  surveyor  should  be  called  in.  Every  farmer  with  a 
hundred  acres  to  level  can  easily  do  the  whole  survey- 
ing himself  by  following  this  apparently  crude  method, 
and  be  as  accurate  in  his  leveling  as  a  professional  sur- 
veyor. 

Where  there  are  curved  lines  to  be  drawn  on  irreg- 
ular surfaces,  a  hill  or  a  knoll,  for  instance,  being  in 
the  way  of  a  straight  line,  the  mariner's  compass  may 
be  brought  into  use  to  ascertain  bearings,  and  a  series 
of  straight  lines  drawn  which  will  make  skeletons  for 
the  curves.  In  fact,  it  is  no  trick  at  all  to  draw  a 
level  line  around  a  hill,  or  curve  a  ditch  in  the  shape 
of  a  letter  S  or  Z,  by  this  simple  method.  All  these 
measurements  should  be  traced  on  the  map,  for  even 
if  not  used  immediately  they  will  prove  useful  when 
necessary  to  ditch,  or  irrigate. 


126  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

The  following  table  showing  various  grades  per 
mile  will  be  useful  as  a  basis  of  calculation  in  drawing 
the  level  lines  for  ditches  or  general  irrigation  purposes  : 

1  foot  in   15  is  352  feet  per  mile 

1  foot  in   20  is  264  feet  per  mile 

1  foot  in   25  is  211  feet  per  mile 

1  foot  in   30  is  176  feet  per  mile 

1  foot  in    35  is  151  feet  per  mile 

1  foot  in   40  is  132  feet  per  mile 

1  foot  in   50  is  106  feet  per  mile 

1  foot  in  100  is   53  feet  per  mile 

1  foot  in  125  is   42  feet  per  mile 

Any  desired  grade  or  "flow"  can  be  calculated  by 
remembering  that  there  are  5,280  feet  in  a  mile.  By 
dividing  5,280  feet  by  the  number  of  feet  in  length  of 
the  ditch,  the  grade  or  "fall"  will  be  the  result,  esti- 
mating one  foot  as  the  desired  fall  or  flow  of  the  water 
in  the  ditch,  and  the  desired  fall  or  flow  may  be  regu- 
lated when  drawing  the  level  line  by  notching  the 
poles  used  in  leveling. 

ELEMENTARY  INFORMATION. 

To  make  this  land  leveling  business  clear  to  the 
mind  of  the  elementary  reader,  let  it  be  supposed  that 
he  desires  to  run  a  ditch  from  one  point  to  another.  He 
has  the  letter  A-shaped  plumb-bob  leveler,  half  a  dozen 
poles  ten  feet  or  so  in  length,  and  a  carpenter's  spirit 
level.  With  these  he  is  prepared  to  run  practically 
level  lines  all  over  a  hundred-acre  tract  of  land. 

At  the  starting  point  ascertain  the  "plumb"  point, 
that  is,  the  spot  over  which  hangs  the  lead  bob  exactly 
in  the  middle  of  the  cross-bar  of  the  A,  then  plant 
a  pole,  and  at  the  height  of  the  eye,  say  five  feet,  cut 
a  plainly  visible  notch,  or  make  any  kind  of  a  mark 
that  can  be  seen  from  a  distance.  This  is  the  standard 
of  the  entire  ditch. 

Next,  take  another  pole,  your  A  level,  and  the 
spirit  level,  and  walk  along  the  proposed  line  of  ditch 
any  convenient  distance  to  a  point.  Four  rods  or  so 
are  not  too  far,  less  if  there  are  obstructions  to  level 


Laying  Out  of  the  Land — Method  of  Planting.       127 

around.  Lay  the  A  level  over  the  selected  point  and 
ascertain  the  exact  level  of  point  two,  as  it  may  be 
called.  .Now  place  the  spirit  level  against  the  pole 
about  the  height  of  the  eye,  and  look  along  its  top  just 
as  if  "sighting"  a  gun.  Slide  it  up  and  down,  if  nec- 
essary, until  you  find  the  notch  in  the  first  pole,  with 
the  "bubble"  in  the  spirit  level  exactly  in  the  center, 
and  make  a  notch  or  mark  in  pole  number  two  where 
the  top  of  the  spirit  level  touches  it. 

A  calculation  is  easily  made,  for  the  notch  on  pole 
one  is  five  feet  from  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  by 
measuring  the  height  from  the  ground  of  the  notch  in 
pole  number  two,  any  variation  will  mean  that  another 
level  point  must  be  selected,  or  that  there  must  be  some 
grading  or  digging. 

The  second  level  point  having  been  established, 
proceed  with  the  third  pole  in  the  same  manner,  com- 
paring it  with  the  second  pole,  carefully  noting  the 
figures  on  paper,  and  so  continue  until  the  work  is 
completed.  Laterals  may  be  run  in  the  same  manner, 
and  the  entire  parcel  of  land  gone  over,  the  results  in 
figures  showing  the  slope  or  lay  of  the  land  for  every 
purpose.  This  leveling,  if  carefully  and  completely 
done,  will  show  numerous  grades,  or  slopes  in  the  same 
parcel  or  tract  of  land,  and  the  knowledge  of  this  is 
extremely  valuable;  in  fact,  necessary  for  irrigation 
purposes,  whether  ditching  or  flooding.  It  is  often 
a  very  intricate  matter  to  irrigate  every  portion  of  a 
given  field  uniformly,  and  failure  to  do  so  always  re- 
sults in  lack  of  uniformity  in  any  crop  sought  to  be 
grown  upon  it,  there  being  too  much  water  on  some 
parts  and  not  enough  on  others.  It  will  be  under- 
stood that  the  waste  of  water  and  the  loss  in  crop  must 
exceed  by  far  the  expense  of  leveling  the  land  in  every 
direction.  The  chapter  on  irrigation  will  give  details 
of  flowing  water  on  irregular  surfaces,  and  reference 


128  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

k>  the  synoptical  index  will  point  out  comprehensive 
illustrations. 

Before  concluding  this  portion  of  the  chapter  on 
"Laying  Out  of  Land/'  it  is  proper  to  add  by  way  of 
information,  that  on  July  28,  1866,  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  legalized  what  is  known  as  the  "met- 
ric" or  French  system  of  measurements,  and  provided 
that  "It  shall  be  recognized  in  the  construction  of  con- 
tracts *  *  *  *  as  establishing  in  terms  of  the 
weights  and  measures  now  in  use  in  the  United  States, 
the  equivalents  of  the  weights  and  measures  in  com- 
mon use/' 

That  portion  of  .the  "French"  system  relating  to 
land  measurement  is  given  here,  in  case  any  farmer 
should  fancy  it  in  preference  to  the  "English"  sys- 
tem, which  has  always  been  used: 

MEASURES  OF  LENGTH. 

Metric  Denominations  and  Equivalents  in  Denomina- 
Values.  tions  in  Use. 

Myriametre 10,000  metres.  6.2137  miles. 

Kilometre 1,000  metres.  0.62137  mile,  or  3,280  ft.  10  in 

Hectometre 100  metres.  328  feet  1  inch. 

Dekametre 10  metres.  393.7  inches. 

Metre 1  metre.  89.37  inches. 

Decimetre. . .  .1-10  of  a  metre.  3.937  inches. 

Centimetre .  .1-100  of  a  metre.  0.3937  inch. 

Millimetre...l-1000  of  a  metre.  0.0394  inch. 

MEASURES  OF   SURFACE. 

Metric  Denominations  and  Equivalents  in  Denomina- 

Values.  tions  in  Use. 

Hectare ....  10,000  sq.  metres.  2.471  acres. 

Are 100  sq.  metres.  119.6  sq.  yards. 

Centare 1  sq.  metre.  1,550  sq.  inches. 

This  metrical,  or  decimal,  system  is  not  in  com- 
mon, everyday  use;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  jarely  found 
except  in  Government  reports. 

The  matter  of  fencing  should  not  be  omitted  in 
this  place,  and  so  estimated  quantities  in  the  conven- 
ient barbed  wire  fencing  are  here  given.  The  table 


Laying  Out  of  the  Land— Method  of  Planting.       129 

gives  an  estimate  of  the  number  of  pounds  of  barbed 
wire  required  to  fence  the  space  or  distance  mentioned, 
with  one,  two  or  three  lines  of  wire,  based  upon  each 
pound  of  wire  measuring  one  rod  (16^  feet) : 

Pounds.  Pounds.  Pounds. 
1  side  of  a  square  mile. 320          640        900 

1  rod  in  length 1  2  3 

100  rods  in  length 100    200    300 

100  feet  in  length 6  1/16  12  1/8  18  3/16 

METHODS  OF  PLANTING. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  this  part  of  the  pres- 
ent chapter  will  exhaust  the  subject  of  methods  of 
planting.  The  subject  is  too  large  and  important  to 
be  treated  in  one  place,  and  it  is  therefore  distributed 
in  other  chapters  to  follow.  But  it  is  all  important  to 
consider  the  nature  of  the  plant  which  it  is  purposed  to 
grow,  and  plant  the  seed  in  such  manner  that  it  will 
have  room  to  grow  and  develop  its  seed  or  fruit.  If 
the  previous  chapters  have  been  carefully  read  the 
reader  will  remember  that  great  stress  was  laid  upon 
,the  fact  that  all  plants  are  great  feeders,  and  that 
they  are  so  by  instinct,  and  to  attempt  to  compel  them 
to  abstain  from  their  proper  food,  or  limit  their  food 
supply  on  the  ground  of  economy  or  indifference,  or 
upon  the  supposition  that  they  will  grow  anyhow,  is 
to  reduce  the  product  of  that  plant  proportionately.  It 
is  always  a  losing  plan  to  restrict  the  food  of  plants, 
for  that  means  stunting  their  growth. 

Now,  whether  the  seed  be  sown  broadcast,  planted 
in  drills,  or  the  young  plant  transplanted,  care  must  be 
taken  that  the  roots  have  space  to  spread,  or  reach 
out  for  the  required  food.  If  they  have  not  then  they 
rob  each' other  and  fail  to  produce  as  desired.  Plants 
are  cannibalistic  in  their  customs  and  must  not  be 
humored  in  the  slightest  degree. 

There  is  a  curious  fact  about  the  growth  of  plants 
which  may  not  be  out  of  place  here,  inasmuch  as  it 


130  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

will  prove  an  addition  to  the  reader's  information  con- 
cerning the  peculiarities  of  the  plant  kingdom:  Ex- 
periment has  demonstrated  that  the  smallest  seeds, 
even,  say  the  mustard  or  radish,  sown  in  an  absolutely 
sterile  soil  will  produce  plants  in  which  all  the  organs 
are  developed,  but  their  weight  after  months  does  not 
amount  to  much  more  than  that  of  the  original  seed. 
The  plants  remain  delicate,  and  appear  reduced  or 
dwarfed  in  all  dimensions.  They  may,  however,  grow, 
flower  and  even  bear  seed,  which  only  requires  a  fer- 
tile soil  to  produce  again  a  plant  of  natural  size. 

In  planting  without  providing  room  for  the  plant 
to  feed,  or  sowing,  or  planting  too  many  of  its  fellows 
in  too  close  proximity,  the  soil  is  rendered  sterile  by 
over-consumption,  and  the  plants  starve  or  fail  to  pro- 
duce adequate  crops.  *-  This  well  known  fact,  together 
with  the  application  of  the  experiment  above  cited,  will 
explain  why,  in  rows  of  plants,  there  are  spots  where 
the  plants  do  not  grow  to  perfection  so  far  as  producing 
is  concerned.  They  grow,  it  is  true,  but  they  are 
dwarfs. 

There  is  another  thing  to  be  considered  also  in  this 
connection,  which  is  that  plants  are  not  all  robust  or 
healthy  in  the  same  degree.  One  may  be  so  situated  as 
to  its  environments  as  to  be  able  to  develop  more 
quickly  than  its  neighbors,  in  which  case  it  will  "crowd 
out"  its  neighbors,  or  absorb  their  food,  which  means 
the  same  thing.  Just  as  when  two  humans  sleep  in 
the  same  bed,  the  healthy  and  vigorous  one  will  absorb 
the  vitality  of  the  weaker  one,  a  well  attested  circum- 
stance in  medical  annals. 

Experience  has  demonstrated  beyond  controversy 
that  there  is  as  much  of  a  plant  under  ground  as  above 
it,  whether  that  plant  be  a  tree  or  a  cabbage,  and 
hence  it  is  not  difficult  to  gauge  the  proper  distances 
in  planting,  if  perfection  of  growth  be  the  desideratum. 
Few,  however,  pay  the  slightest  attention  to  this  fact, 


Laying  Out  of  the  Land— Method  of  Planting.       131 

and  hesitate  to  "prick  out"  the  superfluous  plants  in 
the  radish  or  lettuce  bed,  and  the  consequence  is  they 
wonder  why  their  neighbor  grows  such  fine  cabbages 
when  they  have  the  same  soil  and  bestow  the  same  care 
upon  them.  They  do  not  give  them  the  same  care ;  the 
neighbor  is  economical,  for  he  thins  out  his  rows  and 
gives  the  remaining  plants  room  to  grow.  This  means 
quality  as  well  as  perfection. 

A  Chinese  gardener  will  grow  vegetables  so  close 
together  that  they  will  touch,  and  anyone  watching  him 
will  suppose  that  the  thinning  out  process  is  not  essen- 
tial. But  it  is  in  his  case  as  well  as  in  all  other  cases, 
the  only  difference  being,  the  Chinaman  knowing  very 
well  that  his  plants  will  not  grow  if  crowded  together, 
and  that  they  must  be  thinned  out.  But  he  knows  the 
reason,  and  that  reason  is  that  they  must  have  food  in 
sufficient  quantities,  so  he  gives  it  to  them  and  makes 
up  for  lack  of  space  by  supplying  food.  This  is  why 
the  Chinaman  can  be  seen  always  dosing  his  plants 
with  liquid  fertilizers.  He  never  rests,  but  is  always 
at  work  "forcing"  his  vegetables  to  grow.  Anyone  can 
do  the  same,  but  the  average  American  farmer,  with 
his  acres  of  land  to  the  Celestial's  square  feet,  does  not 
deem  it  necessary  to  crowd  his  plants.  Moreover,  to 
speak  truly,  forced  plants  are  never  as  substantial  as 
those  grown  naturally,  and  this  ought  to  be  a  sufficient 
reason  for  so  planting  that  every  individual  plant  may 
be  surrounded  by  its  own  storehouse  without  encroach- 
ing upon  the  preserves  of  its  neighbors. 

The  following  table  will  assist  the  farmer  in 
planting  seed,  bearing  in  mind  always  that  the  plant 
is  as  large  under  ground  as  above  it,  whether  it  be  a 
tree  or  a  cabbage.  The  distances  are  in  feet,  basing 
the  calculation  as  43,560  square  feet  to  the  acre: 


182 


The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 


Distances  No.  of 

Apart.  Plants. 

1  xl     43,560 

ll/2xV/2 19,360 

2  x     1 21,780 

2    x2     10,890 

6,969 

xl  14,520 

x2  7,260 

x3  4,840 

3,555 

xl  10,890 

x2  5,445 

x3  3,630 

x4  2,722 

2,151 

xl  8,712 

x2  4,356 

x3  2,904 

x4  2,178 

x5  1,742 

1,417 

6  x6  1,210 


Distances 
Apart. 

7x  8... 
8x  8.  .. 
9x  9.. 


No.  of 
Plants. 
.  888 
.  680 
.  537 


10x10 435 

11x11 360 

12x12 302 

13x13 357 

14x14 222 

15x15 193 

16x16 170 

17x17 150 

18x18 134 

19x19 120 

20x20 108 

24x24 75 

25x25 69 

27x27 59 

30x30 48 

40x40 27 

50x50 17 

60x60 12 

66x66..  10 


Ql/2x&l/2 1,031 

To  round  out  the  above  calculation,  the  folk, 
table  of  the  quantity  of  seeds  required  in  planting  is 
added : 


Length 
of  Drill, 
Per  Oz. 

50  feet 
100  feet 
200  feet 


Vitality, 
Years. 
4  to   6 
6  to 
Ito 


Seeds, 
Per  Oz. 
Asparagus  ....  1,000  to   1,200 

Beet 1,200  to   1,500      100  feet  6  to    8 

Carrot 20,000  to  24,000      200  feet  1  to   3 

Cabbage 8,000  to  12,000  Transplant  4  to   6 

Cauliflower  .  . .  8,000  to  12,000  Transplant  4  to   6 

Celery 50,000  to  60,000  Transplant  3  to   5 

Egg  plant 5,000  to   6,000  Transplant  5  to   6 

Endive 20,000  to  24,000  Transplant  8  to  10 

Lettuce 25,000  to  30,000      400  feet  5  to    6 

Okra 500  to      600        50  feet  5  to   6 

Onion 7,000  to    8,000      200  feet  1  to  2 

Parsnip 5,000 to  6,000      200 feet  Ito  2 


Laying  Out  of  the  Land— Method  of  Planting.       188 

Radish 3,000  to   4,000      100  feet  4  to  5 

Salsify 2,500  to   3,000      100  feet  4  to  5 

Spinach 2,000  to    3,000      100  feet  4  to  5 

Tomato About  20,000  Transplant  4  to  5 

Turnip 8,000  to  12,000      200  feet  6  to  7 

The  quantity  of  seed  for  the  space  specified  in  the 
second  column  of  the  latter  table  is  much  too  great, 
but  it  is  the  conventional  quantity  and  is  given  as  the 
maximum.  In  our  garden  culture  all  of  the  common 
plants  mentioned  are  susceptible  to  transplanting  with 
good  results,  even  the  onion;  but,  of  course,  in  field 
culture  chopping  out  with  a  hoe  is  the  most  advisable 
method  to  pursue  in  thinning. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

LATINO  OUT  LAND  FOB  IRRIGATION. 

Jf  the  author  had  his  way  about  it,  he  would  have 
the  land  on  each  side  of  every  main  or  large  supply 
ditch  sloped  down  gently  for  at  least  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet,  and  on  that  slope  he  would  plant  peas, 
beans,  corn,  and  melons  and  raise  a  good  profitable 
crop  without  any  or  with  very  little  furrow  or  surface 
irrigation.  The  seepage  water  would  answer  the  pur- 
pose of  sub-irrigation,  or  infiltration,  as  will  be  ex- 
plained in  another  chapter.  This  water  aided  by  deep 
cultivation  and  pulverization  of  the  soil  would  be 
sufficient  to  gratify  his  most  ardent  hopes. 

At  the  bottom  of  each  slope  would  be  established 
an  open  ditch  or  covered  drainage  system,  and  the 
surplus  water  caught  and  utilized  for  surface  or  furrow 
irrigation  on  the  plat  below.  The  land  on  the  ditch 
slope  would  be  plowed  and  cultivated  parallel  with 
the  ditch  line,  and  at  right  angles  to  it  on  the  plat  be- 
low the  slope. 

This  system  of  laying  out  the  land  is  equivalent 
to  terracing  but  more  convenient  and  natural,  withal, 
less  expensive,  for  the  ditches  can  be  arranged  to  suit 
the  slopes  of  the  land  rather  than  the  reverse.  Should 
the  land  be  sufficient  in  quantity  to  make  it  worth 
while  and  the  topography  permit,  a  series  of  slopes 
could  be  provided  for  and  every  drop  of  the  usually 
wasted  seepage  water  utilized.  It  is  very  pretty  to  the 
eye  and  looks  very  nice  and  regular  on  paper,  but  the 
author  believes  that  although  the  ditches  run  everywhere 
in  the  most  profuse  irregularity  and  ugliness,  destruc- 
tive even  of  the  refinement  required  of  landscape  art, 
yet  there  is  nothing  more  beautiful  to  his  eye  than 
a  luxuriant  crop  of  profitable  plants.  Experiment 
and  settled  practice  has  demonstrated  the  utility  and 
value  of  this  system  all  over  the  world.  Corn,  beans, 

m 


Laying  Out  Land  for  Irrigation.  135 

peas,  peppers,  onions,  even  small  fruits  and  crawling 
berry  vines  growing  to  perfect  maturity  without  a  drop 
of  water  from  the  clouds  or  by  artificial  application, 
and  as  to  the  quality — well,  they  are  imported  into  this 
country  from  Europe  and  the  American  epicure  pays 
three  times  as  much  for  them  as  for  home  productions 
because  he  finds  them  better  suited  to  his  palate. 
Every  housewife  knows  that  her  window  plants  flourish 
and  grow  luxuriantly  by  keeping  the  "saucer"  of  the 
flower  pot  filled  with  water  without  any  surface  wet- 
ting at  all. 

The  system  is  as  old  as  Egypt  and  Babylon,  and 
it  is  adapted  to  small  farms  and  is  an  obviously 
economical  system  of  increasing  the  duty  of  water 
without  increasing  its  quantity,  and  it  is  more  con- 
ducive to  the  perfection  of  plant  growth  and  life  than 
"over-dosing." 

DITCH-BANK  IRRIGATION. 

The  system  last  referred  to  is  really  what  may  be 
called  "ditch-bank  irrigation."  The  object  of  it,  of 
course,  is  to  use  the  water  that  seeps  or  percolates 
from  the  banks  of  a  raised  ditch,  which  is  sufficient  to 
moisten  the  slope  of  the  bank  and  the  soil  for  some 
distance  outward  from  the  base.  We  find  that  this 
system  was  in  favor  with  the  old  Spanish  settlers,  who 
opened  a  ditch  from  a  stream  on  a  grade  so  slight  that 
a  very  slow  flow  would  result.  The  land  on  each  side 
of  this  ditch  was  thus  moistened  and  almost  every 
variety  of  vegetables  and  small  fruits  were  raised  with- 
out other  irrigation. 

To  accomplish  the  purpose,  the  land  is  deeply 
plowed,  turning  under  a  good  covering  of  manure, 
then  harrow  thoroughly  until  the  soil  is  evenly  settled. 
After  this  the  land  is  ready  for  the  elevated  ditch 
from  which  the  seepage  water  is  to  be  obtained.  This 
is  done  by  throwing  back  a  few  furrows  to  form  a  ridge 
which  shall  be  high  enough  to  command  the  land  un- 


136  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

der  it.  The  ridge  is  shaped  evenly  and  the  surface 
raked  over,  a  hoe  being  used  to  mark  out  a  narrow 
ditch.  When  the  water  is  turned  in  the  course  of  the 
water  may  be  regulated  with  a  hoe  and  by  a  little  cut- 
ting and  filling,  so  that  the  water  will  run  evenly 
along  the  entire  length  of  the  ridge. 

In  less  than  a  week  the  soil  along  the  ridge  will 
be  in  a  suitable  condition  to  receive  whatever  seed  or 
plant  it  is  desired  to  grow;  indeed,  there  will  be  as 
much  space  along  the  base  of  the  ridge  as  there  is  on 
its  slope  which  will  be  sufficiently  moist.  If  the  ground 
is  not  too  porous,  the  water  will  percolate  slowly  and 
evenly  and  moisten  the  soil  without  cropping  out  at 
the  surface  anywhere.  By  thrusting  the  hand  into 
the  soil  it  will  be  found  that  the  percolating  water  is 
within  an  inch  of  the  surface,  but  never  quite  reaches 
it,  due  probably  to  surface  evaporation.  As  will  be 
noticed  in  the  case  of  sand,  the  surface  may  be  dry 
but  water-soaked  an  inch  or  so  below. 

The  number  of  ridges  may  be  multiplied  to  suit 
the  quantity  of  surface  it  is  desirable  to  irrigate  in 
that  fashion,  and  they  may  be  made  large  enough  to 
control  a  quarter  or  half  an  acre.  Even  though  the 
land  at  the  base  is  perfectly  flat,  the  water  flows  down 
the  slope  and  spreads  out  along  the  levels.  Should 
the  land  be  sloping  generally,  the  overflow  from  the 
first  or  highest  ditch  may  be  troughed  to  a  lower  one 
and  so  on  indefinitely.  Wooden  troughs  of  four-inch 
stuff  nailed  together  in  the  form  of  a  V,  with  two  or 
three  cross-cleets  at  the  top  to  prevent  warping,  are 
very  serviceable,  and  being  about  sixteen  feet  in  length, 
comparatively  light,  and  therefore  easy  to  handle,  may 
be  made  to  reach  any  desired  distance  by  overlapping. 
Or,  the  overflow  from  a  series  of  these  ridge  ditches 
may  be  collected  into  one  ditch  and  carried  to  small 
fruits  or  joined  with  a  larger  stream.  The  simplicity 
of  the  arrangement,  though  requiring  some  labor  at 


Laying  Out  Land  for  Irrigation.  137 

first  in  establishing  the  proper  grade,  fairly  compen- 
sates for  that  work  and  care,  for  during  the  rest  of  the 
season  the  irrigation  is  automatic,  that  is,  it  goes  on 
uninterruptedly  and  without  any  assistance.  All  the 
repairs  needed  will  be  a  few  strokes  of  the  hoe,  a 
trifle  of  raking,  and  the  land  will  always  be  ready  for 
any  kind  of  crop  or  succession  of -crops.  Care  should 
be  taken  not  to  puddle  the  bottom  or  sides  of  the  ridge 
ditches,  as  in  case  of  a  reservoir.  On  the  contrary  the 
water  should  occasionally  be  shut  off  and  the  ditch 
raked  up  to  open  the  soil,  for  the  object  of  these  ditches 
is  not  to  store  or  hold  water,  but  to  enable  the  water  to 
seep  or  leach  out  into  the  soil. 

There  is  never  any  danger  of  the  soil  becoming 
soggy,  for  the  quantity  of  water  is  small,  regulated  to 
suit  the  demands  of  the  plants,  and  to  allow  for  a 
slight  evaporation. 

DEPRESSED  BEDS. 

Growing  out  of  the  ditch-bank  irrigation  is  the 
depressed  or  sunken  bed  system,  which  is  quite  similar, 
the  water  being  fed  from  ridge  ditches,  but  instead 
of  percolation  the  water  is  run  directly  over  and  upon 
the  soil  after  the  manner  of  flooding.  The  land  is  not 
sloped  but  is  flat,  or  level,  a  small  flow,  however,  being 
desirable  rather  than  objectionable.  It  is  adapted  to 
very  light  and  unretentive  soils  and  for  shallow  root- 
ing plants  like  strawberries. 

The  land  is  laid  out  in  rectangular  checks,  or  any 
other  desired  form,  and  around  the  sides  of  the  checks 
are  elevated  ridges  upon  the  top  of  which  are  laid 
ditches  in  which  the  water  flows  slowly  and  quietly. 
The  water  is  admitted  to  the  checks  from  several 
points  at  the  same  time  and  distributes  itself  over  the 
surface  uniformly,  slowly  soaking  into  the  soil. 

In  the  hot  summer  months  when  it  is  desirable  to 
maintain  the  growth  of  shallow  rooted  plants,  it  is 
an  admirable  system,  and  is  enhanced  in  its  effects^  by 


138  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

spreading  over  the  soil  a  mulch  of  rotten  straw,  or 
coarse  manure  under  which,  protected  from  the  sun, 
the  water  slowly  spreads  with  very  little  evaporation. 
It  possesses  more  beneficial  aspects  than  mulching  and 
sprinkling,  for  the  reason  that  the  water  is  retarded  by 
the  presence  of  the  mulch  from  reaching  the  roots  of 
the  plants,  where  it  is  needed,  and  evaporation  is  much 
more  rapid. 

For  the  hot,  dry  season,  where  there  is  no  danger 
of  over-saturating  the  soil,  the  depressed  bed  is  avail- 
able for  all  kinds  of  vegetables,  small  fruits  and  flow- 
ers, the  use  of  it  showing  marvelous  results. 

The  system  is  in  common  use  in  Europe,  where 
the  heat  is  not  excessive,  and  where  a  light  sandy  soil 
is  under  cultivation.  It  is  the  system  adopted  by  the 
market  gardeners  in  the  sand  hills  south  of  the  city  of 
San  Francisco,  where  the  vegetable  gardeners  have 
transformed  large  areas  of  apparently  worthless  land 
into  terraces,  and  on  these  have  arranged  depressed 
beds  in  which  enormous  quantities  of  succulent  vege- 
tables are  grown  for  the  city  market.  The  water  is 
raised  by  windmills  and  pumps  from  wells  sunk  in  low 
spots,  and  delivered  to  small  flumes  which  run  from 
the  windmill  towers  to  the  opposite  hillsides.  The 
water  is  flowed  upon  the  highest  terrace  and  conveyed 
thence  by  means  of  troughs  and  small  ridge  ditches 
from  terrace  to  terrace  and  all  the  beds  filled. 

In  all  cases  of  surface  or  ditch  irrigation  the  land 
must  be  laid  out  to  suit  the  flow  of  the  water,  which  is 
necessarily  down  hill,  so  to  speak.  If  the  land  is  not 
smooth  on  a  level  or  slope,  it  must  be  leveled  or 
graded  by  means  of  a  scraper  or  other  device  for  re- 
moving uneven  portions  and  hillocks.  If  the  land  is 
too  uneven  to  be  irrigated  uniformly,  then  sub-irriga- 
tion is  the  only  remedy,  or  piping  water  to  the  tops  of 
the  ridges,  or  by  establishing  a  reservoir  on  the  highest 
spot,  and  thence  running  ditches  in  every  direction 


Laying  Out  Land  for  Irrigation.  139 

after  tracing  or  laying  out  the  courses  with  the  leveler 
as  related  in  another  and  previous  chapter. 

As  much  care  must  be  taken  proportionately  in 
field  culture  as  in  the  case  of  small  kitchen  gardens, 
the  principle  being  the  same. 

To  put  land  in  shape  to  irrigate  it  should  first  be 
plowed  as  deep  as  possible  and  then  cut  into  beds  of  a 
larger  or  smaller  size,  depending  upon  the  quantity  of 
land  to  be  irrigated  and  the  amount  of  water  at  the 
disposal  of  the  farmer.  This  may  be  done  by  means 
of  a  drag  constructed  in  the  shape  of  the  letter  A, 
from  eight  to  twelve  feet  and  more  at  the  bottom,  run- 
ning to  a  point  at  the  top.  The  land  is  dragged  by 
drawing  the  A-shaped  contrivance  point  first  across 
the  field  from  side  to  side.  The  wide  spreading  ends 
of  the  drag  gather  in  the  loose  earth,  clods  and  other 
rough  material  and  heap  them  up  behind  in  the  shape 
of  a  ridge.  These  beds  may  be  made  from  sixteen  to 
eighty  feet  wide  and  ten  to  forty  rods  long;  it  all 
depends  upon  the  quantity  of  water  at  hand  to  fill 
them. 

After  the  field  has  been  laid  off  into  beds,  the 
ground  between  the  ridges  must  be  leveled  if  uneven 
or  humpy,  and  for  this  purpose  a  scraper  will  be  serv- 
iceable. By  it  the  humps  should  be  scraped  into  the 
low  places,  and  then  a  harrow  may  be  used  and  the 
leveling  process  finished  with  a  board  leveler,  well 
weighted  down.  This  is  nothing  more  than  a  strong 
thick  plank  weighted  with  stones  and  dragged  back 
and  forth  over  the  beds  until  they  are  in  a  perfect  con- 
dition to  receive  water  uniformly  upon  the  surface. 
The  ends  of  the  beds  should  come  up  close  to  the  main 
ditch,  or  to  the  large  lateral  ditch,  so  that  the  water 
can  be  turned  on  in  full  volume.  These  beds  may  be 
irrigated  one  after  the  other  by  flooding,  or  by  furrow 
irrigation.  Indeed,  there  is  no  limit  to  the  manner 
of  irrigating,  the  great  desideratum  being  to  spread 


140  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

the  water  uniformly  over  the  entire  bed.  It  will  be  per- 
ceived that  the  system  is  similar  to  that  of  the  smaller 
depressed  bed-irrigation,  except  that  the  ridge  ditches 
are  not  used,  the  ridges  around  the  large  beds  being 
used  to  retain  the  water  and  to  mark  out  the  land  in 
such  shape  and  sized  plats  as  to  correspond  with  the 
quantity  of  water  on  hand.  The  flow  of  water  must 
be  sufficient  so  that  it  will  rapidly  cover  the  bed,  and 
if  that  is  deficient  then  the  beds  must  be  made  smaller, 
otherwise  the  plants  at  the  upper  end  of  the  bed  will 
flourish  and  produce  well,  whereas  those  at  the  lower 
end  will  be  sickly  and  produce  little  if  anything.  This 
often  happens  in  the  case  of  corn,  potatoes,  etc.,  when 
the  water  runs  either  too  rapidly  or  too  slowly  into  the 
furrows.  The  slope  of  the  land  should  be  such  as  to 
provide  a  quick  rush  of  water  all  along  the  line,  and 
its  standing  in  the  furrows  to  slowly  soak  into  the 
soil.  For  this  purpose  the  source  of  the  water  supply 
must  be  considerably  higher  than  the  land  to  be  irri- 
gated, and  the  quantity  delivered  large  enough  to  fill 
quickly.  Too  slow  a  flow  and  too  small  a  quantity  will 
soak  the  upper  end  of  the  bed  and  give  the  lower  part 
too  little. 

One  important  thing  to  be  guarded  against  in 
laying  out  the  land  for  irrigation  is  to  avoid  the  wash- 
ing out  of  the  soil  by  the  action  of  the  flowing  water. 
Inasmuch  as  the  land  irrigated  is  always  under  culti- 
vation and  loosely  put  together  after  the  action  of  the 
plow,  it  is  very  easily  washed  into  gullies,  and  every 
gully  means  a  lessening  of  fertility.  There  is  not  so 
much  danger  in  this  respect  when  the  land  is  covered 
with  a  heavy  crop  and  flooded,  because  then,  the  plants 
will  retard  the  rush  of  water  and  prevent  damage  by 
washing.  But  in  furrow  irrigation,  the  furrow  soon 
may  become  a  deep  gully  which  the  plow  and  cultivator 
can  not  remove,  and  every  subsequent  application  of 
water  will  enlarge.  To  obviate  this  it  is  good  farm- 


Laying  Out  Land  for  Irrigation.  141 

ing  to  make  the  furrows  short  by  damming  with  a 
quantity  of  earth,  and  when  one  furrow — the  first  one 
—is  well  filled,  remove  the  temporary  dam  and  let  the 
water  flow  down  into  another  short  furrow.  This  will 
be  the  opening  up  of  a  succession  of  reservoirs  which, 
being  small,  will  not  be  liable  to  cause  any  damage, 
and  will  permit  a  speedy  watering  of  the  entire  row  of 
plants. 


CHAPTEE   XII. 

THE  USB  OF  WELLS,  STREAMS,  DITCHES  AND  RESERVOIRS 

TO   DISPOSE  OF  THE  TREMENDOUS  SUPPLY 

OF   WATER. 

Statistics  show  that  the  mean  annual  rainfall  of 
the  world  is  thirty-six  inches,  which  is  about  50,000,- 
000  cubic  feet  per  square  mile  of  the  earth's  surface 
per  annum,  a  quantity  of  water  which  is  amazing  when 
reduced  to  gallons  so  as  to  bring  it  more  readily  within 
the  average  comprehension. 

A  gallon  of  water,  United  States  standard,  weighs 
eight  and  one-third  pounds  and  contains  231  cubic 
inches.  As  there  are  17  28  cubic  inches  in  a  cubic  foot, 
a  simple  calculation  will  show  that  the  annual  rainfall 
on  every  tract  of  land  equal  to  640  acres  amounts  to 
374,026,000  gallons,  or,  reducing  it  to  weight,  1,558,- 
442  tons  of  water,  being  about  2,435  tons  per  acre.  It 
will,  of  course,  be  understood  that  all  this  water  is  not 
equally  distributed,  but  it  all  falls  upon  the  earth 
somewhere  and  is  taken  up  by  the  soil  in  the  same  pro- 
portionate amount  as  by  the  oceans  and  seas.  The 
calculation  might  be  made  more  accurate  by  assuming 
that  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  about  one-third  land 
and  two-thirds  water,  and  that,  therefore,  only  one- 
third  of  this  enormous  quantity  of  water  is  taken  up  by 
the  land,  but  we  are  dealing  with  averages  and  the  rec- 
ord must  stand  as  written. 

This  tremendous  supply  of  water  must  be  disposed 
of  by  nature  in  some  adequate  manner,  for  if  allowed 
to  stand  and  accumulate  the  earth  would  soon  be  sub- 
merged. Fortunately,  Dame  Nature  disposes  of  it, 
except  when  an  inundation  somewhere  sweeps  away 
towns  and  country,  showing  that  she  herself  is  overbur- 
dened with  the  supply.  The  rain  falls  and  is  carried 

141 


The  Use  of  Wells,  Streams,  Ditches,  Etc.  148 

off  the  land  so  far  as  the  surplus  that  is  not  drunk  in 
by  the  ever-thirsty  soil  is  concerned,  by  means  of 
brooks,  rivulets,  streams,  rivers  and  mighty  waterways 
into  the  ocean  for  transformation  by  ^evaporation  into 
more  rain.  A  large  portion  of  it  remaining  on  the 
land  also  evaporates,  that  is,  transformed  into  vapor, 
which  hangs  in  the  atmosphere,  invisible  except  to 
touch,  when  the  weather  is  "damp/*  as  is  said,  or 
gathers  into  clouds  which  empty  their  contents  back 
upon  the  earth.  So  far,  the  action  of  evaporation  and 
rainfall  is  equal  and  the  equilibrium  or  eternal  balance 
of  nature  is  maintained. 

SURFACE   WATER. 

But  an  enormous  portion  of  the  fallen  rain  does 
not  return  into  the  atmosphere,  whence  it  came,  to  re- 
peat its  beneficial  and  grateful  performance;  it  pene- 
trates into  the  soil,  percolates  through  a  myriad  of 
pores,  cracks  and  crannies,  until  it  accumulates  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  sometimes  at  immense  depths, 
and  forms  subterranean  streams  and  reservoirs.  Some- 
times, when  the  soil  is  unyielding,  the  percolating  water 
does  not  attain  the  dignity  of  a  subterranean  stream 
or  reservoir,  but  is  held  in  the  grasp  of  the  soil  above 
some  impervious  or  impenetrable  stratum  of  rock  or 
hard  pan,  and  becomes  what  is  known  as  "surface 
water,"  a  water  table  which  throws  off  moisture  to  be 
carried  to  the  surface  by  capillary  attraction. 

It  is  a  maxim  in  physics,  "nature  abhors  a  vacu- 
um," and  so  whenever  there  is  a  vacant  place  the  water 
fills  it,  and  thus  there  is  a  never  ending  supply  of 
water  from  rain  or  melting  snow  which  is  practically 
rain  in  another  form.  The  fact  that  there  are  rain- 
less, arid  regions  does  not  alter  the  fact,  for  somewhere 
beyond  them  in  the  mountains  is  the  supply  of  water 
the  rainless  belt  should  receive,  and  it  sinks  beneath 
the  arid  lands  waiting  to  be  drawn  up  to  the  surface 
by  the  ingenuity  of  man,  it  being  prevented  from  do- 


144  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

ing  so  of  its  own  accord  by  insurmountable  obstacles 
in  the  soil. 

The  method  of  reaching  these  subterranean  de- 
posits of  water,  underground  reservoirs  and  water  ta- 
bles, is  by  what  is  commonly  called  "a  well."  When 
a  well  is  dug  down  into  the  water  table  or  surface 
water,  say  from  four  to  six  feet  in  diameter  or  any 
other  size  deemed  adequate  to  insure  a  good  supply 
of  water,  and  from  ten  to  100  feet  in  depth,  and  curbed 
with  stone  or  mitred  plank,  and  a  windlass  and  bucket 
arranged  at  the  top,  or  a  common  suction  pump,  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  water  supply  is  assured.  For  domestic 
purposes,  perhaps  to  irrigate  a  small  garden  patch, 
where  labor  is  of  little  consideration,  a  well  with  the 
above  pumping  apparatus  will  serve,  but  few  farmers 
will  rest  content  with  this  ancient  system  of  procuring 
a  water  supply,  and  if  anyone  aspires  to  cultivate  the 
soil  and  irrigate  he  must  largely  extend  his  plant. 

QUANTITY  OF  WATER  NEEDED. 

To  estimate  the  quantity  of  water  that  the  irriga- 
tion farmer  must  provide,  it  is  necessary  to  go  into  a 
few  details  as  to  the  quantity  required  to  raise  a  crop. 
That  quantity  he  must  have  or  go  out  of  business. 

To  irrigate  a  few  acres  successfully  it  may  be 
necessary  to  have  a  supply  of  water  running  up  into 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  gallons.  Taking  rainfall 
as  the  standard  of  water  needed  to  grow  a  crop,  we  find 
that  one  inch  of  rain  on  an  acre  of  ground  is  equiva- 
lent to  27,154  gallons,  and  for  the  purposes  of  irri- 
gation, that  is,  to  give  the  ground  a  good  wetting,  at 
least  two  inches  of  water  are  necessary,  more  being  re- 
quired in  some  localities. 

Professor  King  has  made  the  following  estimate 
of  the  quantity  of  water  required  during  the  growing 
season  in  various  localities: 


The  Use  of  Wells,  Streams,  Ditches.  Etc.  145 

Wisconsin 34  inches  per  acre 

California 7%  to  20  inches  per  acre 

Colorado 22  inches  per  acre 

India  48  inches  per  acre 

France  and  Italy 50  inches  per  acre 

To  still  further  go  into  the  details  of  the  quantity 
of  water  required  to  grow  a  crop  to  maturity,  Professor 
King  gives  che  following  table  of  amounts  of  water 
necessary  to  produce  the  certain  plants  dry: 

Pounds  of   Water  to  Each 
Pound  Dry  Product. 

Dent  corn    309 

Flint  corn   233 

Ked  clover   452 

Barley  392 

Oats 552 

Field  peas 477 

Potatoes 422 

Rye 353 

This  enormous  quantity  of  water  which  must  be 
provided  for  the  needs  of  plants  is  not  an  alarming 
amount  when  it  is  considered  that  it  may  be  obtained 
very  cheaply  by  modern  machinery  where  the  water 
supply  is  adequate  and  a  proper  arrangement  of  ditches 
and  reservoirs  is  made  to  economize  it,  the  universal  ten- 
dency being  always  toward  waste. 

WHERE  OPEN  WELLS  ABE  A  SUCCESS. 

Ordinary  open  wells  are  more  successful  in  clay 
and  stone  than  in  sand,  there  being  far  less  liability  of 
the  water  running  out,  the  bottom  of  the  well  being  a 
retaining  reservoir,  which  may  be  greatly  enlarged  by 
tunneling  out  to  any  safe  distance  into  the  water  table 
or  water  stratum.  Where  the  water  stratum  is  in  sand 
it  is  better  to  use  screen  points,  that  is,  tubing  with 
perforated  ends,  which  admit  the  water  but  keep  out 
the  sand.  Several  of  these  screen  points  may  be  run 


146  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

down  into  the  water-bearing  sand  stratum  at  a  suffi- 
cient distance  to  prevent  one  robbing  the  other,  and 
all  be  connected  with  a  suction  pipe.  Experience  tells 
that  these  screens  should  be  run  down  to  the  bottom 
of  the  water-carrying  sand  if  possible,  and  that  in 
any  event  they  should  be  sized  according  to  the  depth  of 
the  strata. 

To  accomplish  this  purpose  successfully  in  wells 
an  open  well  large  enough  for  two  men  to  work  in 
should  be  sunk  down  to  the  sand  and  curbed  to  pre- 
vent caving.  Then  by  driving  ordinary  gas  piping  as 
a  casing  for  the  screens  and  boring  with  a  common 
auger,  the  screens  may  be  lowered  to  any  depth,  or  if 
the  water-bearing  sand  is  very  deep  a  succession  of 
screens  may  be  put  down  on  top  of  each  other  to  en- 
large the  water  supply. 

Assuming  the  water  supply  to  be  adequate  for  the 
purposes  of  reasonable  irrigation  from  a  well,  the  next 
question  is  how  to  raise  the  water  in  the  most  eco- 
nomical manner.  Economy  is  wealth  in  irrigation 
more  than  in  any  other  business.  Horace  Greeley 
boasted  that  he  raised  the  finest  potatoes  in  the  country, 
but  they  cost  him  about  $2.50  each,  and  his  milk  cost 
him  the  same  price  as  the  finest  imported  champagne 
wine. 

WINDMILL  IRRIGATION. 

Aside  from  human  muscle  and  ox  or  horse-power 
drawing  water  in  the  ancient  fashion,  and  still  practiced 
in  Asia,  the  simplest  and  least  expensive  method  of 
raising  water  is  by  windmill.  A  sixteen-foot  windmill 
connected  with  a  storage  reservoir  will  raise  water 
enough  to  irrigate  fully  ten  acres.  But  the  windmill 
could  not  deliver  the  amount  of  water  demanded  if  the 
supply  were  used  at  the  same  time  as  the  pumping, 
hence  the  necessity  of  constructing  a  reservoir  in  which 
to  store  the  water.  With  this  reservoir  the  windmill  may 
be  made  to  pump  constantly  and  provide  a  supply  of 


The  Use  of  Wells,  Streams,  Ditches,  Etc.  147 

water  against  the  time  of  need.  One  with  a  capacity 
of  several  millions  of  gallons  may  be  constructed  with- 
out great  expense,  as  will  be  described  on  another 
page. 

Instead  of  a  windmill,  a  centrifugal  pump  may 
be  used  which  will  raise  water  to  a  height  of  about 
fifty  feet  at  a  cost  of  less  than  30  cents  per  million 
gallons.  These  pumps  are  geared  to  be  operated  either 
by  steam  or  gasoline  engines.  Where  there  is  plenty  of 
fuel  or  coal  is  accessible,  steam  power  is  advisable,  but 
where  fuel  is  scarce  or  expensive  the  use  of  gasoline  is 
naturally  more  economical. 

In  central  Asia,  which  includes  Persia  and  the 
surrounding  countries,  the  water  of  the  brooks  and 
mountain  streams  seeps  through  the  porous  conglom- 
erate formation  and  disappears  deep  in  the  earth, 
forming  subterranean  streams.  Owing  to  the  nature 
of  the  soil,  canals  and  ditches  would  not  be  of  much 
utility,  and  hence  recourse  is  had  to  a  system  of  irri- 
gation by  means  of  a  group  of  deep  wells  dug  at  the 
base  of  the  mountains.  These  wells  are  connected  to- 
gether by  underground  galleries  which  terminate  in  a 
large  well,  which  answers  the  purpose  of  a  reservoir. 
Along  down  the  valley  some  distance  from  the  large 
well  are  established  a  series  of  dry  cisterns  about  150 
feet  apart,  the  bottoms  of  which  are  lower  than  that 
of  the  well  reservoir.  The  depth  of  these  cisterns  di- 
minishes gradually  until  the  last  one  is  reached,  the 
depth  of  which  may  not  exceed  eighteen  inches. 

All  of  these  wells  and  cisterns  are  connected  to- 
gether by  galleries  large  enough  for  a  man  to  pass 
through  in  a  stooping  position.  This  arrangement  of 
wells  and  cisterns  with  their  connecting  galleries  is 
sufficient  to  supply  an  open  canal  which  carries  water 
to  the  valley,  the  whole  length  of  the  irrigating  sys- 
tem ranging  from  two  to  thirty  miles.  Direct  conduits 
and  piping  have  been  used,  but  discarded  owing  to  the 


148  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

tremendous  depth  of  the  wells  and  the  fact  that  the 
water  is  seepage  water,  not  collecting  fast  enough  to 
be  piped.  Sometimes  water  is  run  into  these  subter- 
ranean reservoirs  and  the  water  supply  thereby  aug- 
mented largely. 

This  system  of  connecting  a  number  of  wells  with 
tunnels  or  galleries  has  been  tried  in  the  United  States 
and  has  proved  satisfactory  in  providing  an  increased 
water  supply  by  means  of  an  underground  reservoir. 
Deep  cisterns  have  also  been  tried  for  the  same  pur- 
pose, but  the  most  common  practice  is  to  run  a  tunnel 
or  gallery  out  from  the  bottom  of  a  single  well,  in 
fact  several  of  them,  if  the  formation  will  permit.  If 
sunk  on  high  ground  a  flow  of  water  may  be  secured 
from  below  by  piping,  otherwise  pumping  must  be  re- 
sorted to,  which  is  the  case  when  the  wells  are  very 
deep. 

All  the  rising  subterranean  waters  are  essentially 
artesian,  whatever  the  depth  of  the  bore  of  well  which 
strikes  the  vein. 

An  artesian  well  is  nothing  more  than  one 
branch,  end  or  leg  of  a  tube  or  pipe,  the  other  end,  or 
intake,  of  which  is  at  a  greater  or  less  elevation  above 
the  outlet.  The  fact  that  such  wells  are  so  called  from 
the  city  of  Artois,  in  France,  where  deep  flowing  or 

ruting  wells  were  first  sunk  or  bored,  has  nothing  to 
with  the  characteristics  of  the  water  supply,  pro- 
vided it  rise  in  the  well,  flows  over  the  mouth  or  spouts 
up  into  the  air.  In  such  cases  it  is  evident  that  the 
water  is  not  what  is  usually  called  surface,  seepage 
or  drainage  water,  although  there  is  very  little  differ- 
ence. 

The  value  of  the  artesian  well,  which  is  bored  deep 
into  the  earth,  lies  in  the  fact  that  its  elevated  source 
is  constantly  being  replenished  with  a  supply  of  water 
greater  than  that  used  for  irrigation  or  other  purposes. 
In  the  case  of  water  from  a  saturated  soil,  or  water 


The  Use  of  Wells,  Streams,  Ditches,  Etc.    .        14* 

that  has  percolated  down  through  porous  ground 
through  cracks  and  crannies  to  find  reservoirs,  the  sup- 
ply depends  upon  the  amount  of  rainfall  or  seepage. 
In  ordinary  wells,  to  draw  water  by  constant  pumping 
for  adequate  irrigation  is  to  soon  exhaust  the  stored 
supply,  or  ground  water,  there  being  no  source  to  re- 
plenish it. 

But  in  the  case  of  artesian  wells  in  the  arid  re- 
gions the  source  of  the  subterranean  water  which  rises, 
flows  over  the  mouth  or  spouts  up  into  the  air,  is  in 
a  region  where  the  precipitation  of  water  in  the  form 
of  rain  or  snow  is  much  greater  than  can  be  utilized, 
or  the  underlying  water  plane  is  supplied  from  the  per- 
ennial flow  of  large  rivers  or  streams  fed  from  a  never- 
failing  watershed. 

It  is  essential  to  artesian  water  that  it  be  confined 
under  pressure  beneath  a  cover.  All  water  in  porous 
soils,  if  the  pores  are  to  be  filled  to  saturation,  must 
rest  upon  a  floor  of  practically  impervious  material. 
Underground  water  has  a  slow  motion  on  account  of 
the  resistance  of  friction,  and  accumulates,  assuming  a 
nearly  horizontal  position  along  its  upper  surface,  as 
it  does  in  an  open  pond  or  reservoir.  This  is  its  na- 
ture. Now,  if  an  overlying  impervious  bed  has  an  in- 
clination steeper  than  the  inclination  of  this  water 
plane,  its  dip  may  bring  it  into  contact  with  the  water. 
Down  grade  from  the  line  of  meeting  of  the  water 
plane  with  the  under  surface  of  the  more  steeply  in- 
clined impervious  cover,  the  conditions  of  confinement 
under  pressure  exist,  and  beyond  this  line  of  contact 
or  meeting  the  ground  water  will  be  artesian — that  is, 
when  it  finds  an  outlet  it  will  rise,  seeking  to  attain 
the  portion  or  level  dts  surface  would  have  were  it  not 
for  the  obstacle  in  the  shape  of  the  overhanging  rock 
or  impervious  bed  in  its  way. 

When  this  impervious  covering  is  perforated  by 
boring  a  well,  the  question  whether  there  will  result 


160  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

a  flowing  well,  or  a  mere  rise  to  some  higher  level  with- 
in the  bore  hole,  will  depend  on  what  the  level  of  the 
ground  surface  may  be.  If  at  that  point  the  ground 
surface  happens  to  be  above  the  grade  plane  of  the 
confined  underground  water,  there  can  not  be  a  flowing 
well. 

TAKING  WATER  FROM  STREAMS  AND  RIVERS. 

There  are  four  varieties  of  natural  water  courses, 
the  waters  of  which,  when  used  for  the  purpose  of  irri- 
gation, require  different  machinery  or  appliances  to 
control. 

First — The  slow  current,  to  control  the  water  of 
which  all  that  is  necessary  is  a  simple  sluice  gate  that 
may  be  opened  or  closed  by  any  contrivance  which  can 
be  raised  or  lowered  or  moved  to  and  fro  sideways  to 
admit  or  stop  the  flow  of  water  or  regulate  its  quantity. 
Alt  a  point  above  the  level  of  the  land  to  be  irrigated  a 
three-sided  box  is  sunk,  the  bottom  of  which  is  below 
the  regular  surface  of  the  water  and  the  top  above  the 
surface  of  the  leveled  bank. 

The  end  toward  the  water  is  fitted  between  two 
uprights  on  each  side  of  the  box,  which  form  grooves 
to  permit  the  slide  to  be  moved  or  pushed  down  to  con- 
trol the  supply  of  water.  Or,  the  "gate,"  as  it  is  proper 
to  call  the  sliding  end  of  the  box,  may  be  in  two  parts 
hinged  at  each  side  and  swinging  open  in  the  middle 
like  the  gates  of  a  transportation  canal,  care  being 
taken  to  have  the  two  wings  of  the  gate  open  up  stream 
so  that  the  pressure  of  the  water  will  not  throw  them 
open  automatically. 

These  two  simple  principles  of  an  intake  and 
shutoff  gate  is  the  basis  of  all  contrivances  for  admit- 
ting water  from  a  slow  moving  stream,  whether  the  land 
to  be  irrigated  consist  of  100  or  1,000  acres.  There 
are  many  varieties  of  them,  some  in  iron  and  steel  and 
constructed  of  massive  masonry  to  accommodate  an 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


The  Use  of  Wells,  Streams,  Ditches,  Etc.  151 

enormous  flow  of  water,  but  all  of  them  are  substan- 
tially based  upon  the  idea  given  above. 

Second — Kapid  current  streams,  or  mountain  tor- 
rents, require  a  dam  to  reduce  the  current  before  it  en- 
ters the  water  gate,  or  else  the  latter  would  be  soon 
torn  out  or  undermined  by  the  swirl  of  the  waters. 
This  is  the  object  of  the  dam:  to  create  a  smooth, 
placid  sheet  of  water,  similar  to  the  surface  of  a  pond 
or  reservoir,  and  from  it  admit  water  in  through  the 
water  gate.  This  dam,  if  the  current  is  very  swift, 
may  be  constructed  at  right  angles  with  the  bank,  that 
is,  straight  out  into  the  stream.  This  will  form  a 
breakwater,  a  quiet  harbor,  so  to  speak,  and  the  water 
wil  become  still  inside  of  it. 

Third — Dry  rivers.  Dry  river  beds  are  common 
everywhere  in  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions.  They 
are  often  alluded  to  as  "rivers  with  their  bottom  on 
top,"  being  dry  nearly  always  except  during  the  rainy 
season,  when  a  greater  or  less  body  of  water  flows  in 
their  channel,  according  to  the  quantity  of  rainfall 
within  reach  of  the  watershed  which  supplies  them. 

Although  surface-dry  for  eight  or  nine  months  of 
every  year,  there  is  in  most  cases  an  underground  sup- 
ply of  water  sufficient  to  supply  an  enormous  quantity 
of  water  by  sinking  cribbed  reservoirs  and  pumping. 
For  the  ordinary  purposes  of  irrigation  these  streams 
must  be  dammed  to  create  a  reservoir  which  will  retain 
the  water  when  it  flows,  and  back  it  up  high  enough 
to  reach  the  head  gates  of  the  irrigating  ditches  along 
its  banks.  These  streams  are  not  always  as  peaceable 
as  they  seem,  for  they  are  often  converted  into  raging 
torrents  that  carry  away  every  obstacle  in  their  path. 
Hence  the  damming  of  them  requires  the  highest  en- 
gineering skill  and  the  most  substantial  material  to 
dam  up  the  water,  for  no  one  can  tell  whether  the 
stream  will  run  a  small  quantity  of  water  or  inundate 
the  country  around  about. 


152  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

An  arroyo  is  the  Spanish  for  a  small  cut  or  open- 
ing between  low  hills,  and  refers  to  a  small  stream  or 
rivulet  that  sometimes  flows  through  it.  These  water 
courses  are  not  streams,  properly  "speaking,  but  rather 
waterways,  for  they  have  no  subterranean  or  under- 
ground water,  and  what  does  now  in  or  through  them 
is  adventitious  or  accidental,  depending  upon  the  quan- 
tity of  rainfall. 

These  arroyos  are  quite  common  in  all  hilly  land 
in  the  West  and  Southwest,  and  sometimes  reach  the 
dignity  of  mountain  torrents,  but  in  a  few  days  they 
run  dry  and  the  water  is  lost.  Much  of  this  water  may 
be  saved  for  irrigating  purposes  in  a  variety  of  ways. 
Damming  is  not  advisable  generally,  for  the  dry  stream 
may  become  an  irresistable  torrent  and  sweep  every- 
thing out  of  its  path.  A  partial  or  wing  dam  in  most 
cases  will  hold  the  water  for  several  weeks,  perhaps 
three  months,  and  permit  it  to  slowly  seep  down  into 
the  soil  for  the  benefit  of  the  land  below,  or,  where  the 
lay  of  the  land  on  the  hillsides  is  favorable,  running 
deep  furrows  parallel  with  the  slope  will  restrain  the 
water  from  flowing  too  rapidly  down  the  watershed, 
and  thus  also  permit  it  to  seep  slowly  into  the  soil, 
and  if  followed  up  will  eventually  result  in  creating  a 
water  table  into  which  shallow  wells  may  be  sunk  for 
pumping  purposes. 

Where  the  land  is  sloping  below  a  hill  or  series 
of  hills  deep  furrowing  with  a  sidehill  plow  at  inter- 
vals of  say  six  feet  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  the 
hill  with  a  succession  of  rough  furrows  at  the  bottom 
will  save  up  or  store  enough  water  to  irrigate  by  infil- 
tration many  acres  of  land  for  corn,  potatoes,  melons 
and  vines  generally.  Experiments  demonstrate  that 
this  process  will  equal  two  irrigations  of  an  inch  each, 
and  by  careful,  constant  cultivation  a  good  crop  of 
corn  or  potatoes,  even  melons,  peas  and  beans,  may  be 
grown  without  any  irrigation,  the  subsoil  being  moist 


The  Use  of  Wells,  Streams,  Ditches,  Etc.  158 

and  kept  so  by  deep  tillage  while  the  crop  is  grow- 
ing. 

Varieties  of  head  gates,  the  direct  drawing  af  water 
from  rivers  and  streams  and  damming  are  not  given, 
for  the  reason  that  such  appliances  are  not  within  the 
control  of  the  individual  irrigation  farmer,  but  are 
under  the  management  of  the  State,  the  federal  Gov- 
ernment or  of  water  companies.  The  idea  is  all  that 
is  necessary  in  this  article,  and  from  the  idea  given 
the  farmer  may  apply  the  principle  to  ditches  and 
reservoirs  over  which  he  has  control  on  his  own  land. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE  SCIENCE  AND  ART  OF  IRRIGATION. 

The  main  object  of  irrigation  should  always  be 
borne  in  mind;  that  is:  nature  having  withheld  from 
plants  the  moisture  necessary  to  their  growth,  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  supply  the  omission.  When  that 
object  has  been  attained,  the  work  of  the  irrigator  ends, 
and  to  continue  farther  would  be  detrimental  to  the 
soil,  and  injurious  to  plants  instead  of  beneficial. 

Given  a  certain  tract  of  land,  and  a  water  supply, 
the  question  which  confronts  the  irrigation  farmer  is: 
How  shall  the  water  be  applied  to  the  best  advantage? 
It  must  occur  to  him  that  there  can  not  be  one  fixed, 
rigid  system  of  applying  water  to  the  soil,  for  he  can 
perceive  by  looking  about  him  that  there  are  widely  dif- 
ferent varieties  of  plants,  and  opposite  conditions  of 
soil  which  preclude  a  uniform  system  of  irrigation. 

Scientific  writers,  and  practical  men,  those  who 
have  studied  the  subject  from  the  earliest  ages,  and  in 
every  country,  have  suggested  more  than  a  dozen  dif- 
ferent systems,  but  practical  irrigators  of  modern  times, 
men  who  have  acquired  experience  by  practical  experi- 
ments, some  of  them  costly,  in  our  sixteen  arid  and 
sub-humid  States,  have  settled  upon  four  distinct  sys- 
tems of  irrigation  as  amply  sufficient  for  every  condi- 
tion of  soil  and  climate,  for  economically  supplying 
plants  and  soil  with  life-giving  moisture. 

Let  the  reader  recall  what  has  already  been  said 
on  the  subject  in  previous  chapters,  that  except  in  the 
case  of  aquatic  plants,  it  is  not  water  or  rather  wetness 
that  is  essential  to  the  perfection  of  plant  life,  but 
moisture.  True,  it  is  from  water  that  moisture  is  de- 
rived, but  when  water  is  converted  into  moisture  it  is 
no  longer  water,  but  plant,  food.  When  a  man  eats 
meat  and  vegetables,  he  is  not  eating  oxygen,  hydrogen, 

154 


The  Science  and  Art  of  Irrigation.  155 

nitrogen,  carbonic  acid,  and  the  like,  he  is  eating,  how- 
ever, combinations  of  those  chemical  substances,  com- 
binations which  he,  himself,  can  not  create  by  devour- 
ing the  chemicals  themselves  in  an  original  state.  To 
attempt  to  do  so  would  be  his  speedy  death,  notwith- 
standing the  theories  concerning  the  value  of  dieting 
on  certain  artificial  chemical  combinations  known  as 
"health  foods/' 

Water  is  poured  into  or  upon  the  soil;  gravity 
draws  it  downward;  the  particles  of  earth  seize  upon 
what  they  require,  and  the  surplus  water  continues  to 
descend  until  it  reaches  a  water  table,  or  is  carried  off 
through  drainage  appliances.  Then  capillary  action  be- 
gins, and  the  moisture  ascends,  and  it  and  the  nutritive 
elements  it  has  gathered  from  the  soil  is  seized  upon 
by  the  roots  of  plants  and  devoured,  that  is  absorbed, 
and  the  plant  grows  and  waxes  perfect  upon  the  meat 
with  which  it  is  fed. 

The  four  systems  of  irrigation  referred  to  are  as 
follows : 

First — FLOWING,  or  ditch  irrigation,  where  the 
water  is  run  over  the  land  through  ditches  or  furrows 
intersecting  the  land  to  be  watered. 

Second — FLOODING,  where  the  water  is  made  to 
cover  the  land  entirely  at  any  desired  depth,  and  is 
either  allowed  to  remain  stagnant,  or  stationary,  or 
possesses  a  slight  current. 

Third— INFILTRATION,  or  seepage,  in  which 
the  water  is  carried  to  the  roots  of  plants  by  means  of 
open  ditches,  or  through  subterranean  waterways,  in 
which  case  it  is  termed  SUB-IRRIGATION. 

Fourth— ASPERSION,  or  sprinkling,  in  which 
the  water  is  applied  in  a  shower,  or  as  an  imitation 
rain.  Watering  with  a  common  garden  sprinkling  pot, 
or  rubber  hose,  will  give  an  idea  of  this  system. 

The  first  of  these  systems  constitutes  irrigation  in 
the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  wherever  water  is  utilized 


156  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

as  a  fertilizer  of  the  soil,  or  an  agent  of  humidity  or 
moisture.  The  latter  system  relates  to  watering  small 
garden  plants,  and  flowers,  and  is  commonly  applied  by 
means  of  some  sprikling  apparatus  suitable  to  the  size 
of  the  garden  patch,  and  the  quantity  of  water  to  be 
applied.  It  is  not  serviceable  in  hot  dry  regions  and 
seasons  because  of  rapid  evaporation  which  makes  it 
less  economical  than  the  others. 

The  choice  of  these  systems,  excluding  the  last,  is 
subordinated  to  the  nature  of  the  soil,  and  topography, 
or  "lay"  of  the  land,  the  species  of  plants  and  the  kind 
of  culture,  the  quality  and  level  of  the  water,  and  par- 
ticularly to  the  disposable  volume  of  the  latter.  In 
fact,  two  principles  based  upon  the  volume,  or  quantity 
of  irrigating  waters,  regulate  their  use :  The  utilization 
of  the  maximum  quantity  of  water  obtainable  to  irri- 
gate a  given  surface,  or  an  increase  of  the  irrigable  sur- 
face to  correspond  with  the  maximum  quantity  of 
water. 

The  first  principle  is  applicable  to  the  sub-humid 
sections  where  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  rainfall  in 
the  winter  months  with  dry  summers,  or  a  "dry  season," 
like  the  Pacific  Coast  States,  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  and 
portions  of  Texas,  or  snow  in  winter  as  in  Colorado, 
Wyoming,  and  the  other  northerly  States. 

In  these  localities,  the  rain  and  snow  store  in  the 
soil  a  greater  or  less  volume  of  water,  which  serves  not 
only  to  fertilize  it,  but  to  keep  it  in  a  condition  which 
will  enable  vegetation  to  either  continue  to  grow  with- 
out stopping,  or  to  sprout  in  the  early  spring  without 
preliminary  irrigation. 

In  the  warmer  regions,  however,  there  are  dry 
belts,  where  the  rainfall  is  so  slight  as  to  be  unservice- 
able to  perfect  a  crop,  and  in  these  belts  little  will  grow 
without  irrigation.  To  these  localities  may  be  applied 
the  second  principle. 

Between  these  limits,  principles,  or  conditions,  are 


The  Science  and  Art  of  Irrigation.  167 

grouped  numerous  variations  in  plant  growth,  in  aid 
of  which  irrigation  supplies  the  means  of  rationally 
utilizing  water  for  crop  growing  purposes.  These  vari- 
ations will  be  taken  up  under  the  explanation  of  the 
four  systems  alluded  to. 

FLOWING,  DITCH  AND  FURROW  IRRIGATION. 

On  a  naked  tract  of  inclined,  or  sloping  land,  water 
follows  the  heaviest  grade  with  an  increasing  speed  or 
flow.  When  the  same  tract  is  covered  with  growing 
plants,  the  flow  of  water  is  retarded  by  the  resistance 
of  the  plants,  until  an  equilibrium  is  established,  which 
requires  more  or  less  time  according  to  the  steepness  of 
the  grade  and  the  character  of  the  plants,  and  then  the 
water  flows  with  a  uniform  velocity,  the  same  as  if  the 
land  were  naked.  When  that  equilibrium  has  been 
reached,  reason  tells  the  irrigator  to  stop  the  water 
supply  or  the  surface  will  be  cut  into  gullies. 

When  the  grade  is  very  slight,  the  water,  being  un- 
able to  attain  sufficient  velocity,  is  lost  in  the  soil  before 
it  can  cover  the  entire  tract. 

In  the  former  case,  the  zone  of  irrigation  must  be 
narrowed,  and  in  the  second,  the  lateral  or  distributing 
ditches  must  be  brought  closer  together.  When  the  sur- 
face soil  is  undulating,  or  irregular,  the  water  spreads 
out  unevenly,  in  which  case  the  distributing  laterals 
must  be  brought  still  closer  together,  and  arranged  to 
correspond  with  the  irregularities  to  avoid  gullying. 

Flowing  is  adapted  to  land  the  slope  or  grade  of 
which  is  between  four  and  two  per  cent  per  running 
yard.  On  steeper  grades,  irrigation  is  effected  more 
economically  by  arranging  a  series  of  levels  or  plateaus. 

On  feeble  grades,  the  quantity  of  water  increases 
by  accumulation  and  remains  longer  in  a  stagnant  con- 
dition, but  in  general,  by  this  system  of  irrigation  the 
water  is  more  fully  aerated  and  its  fertilizing  power 
increased. 


158  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

On  large  fields,  water  flowing  over  steep  grades 
being  (more  rapid,  the  ditches  or  water  furrows  should 
be  more  numerous,  to  enable  the  soil  to  gather  from  the 
water  whatever  fertilizing  material  it  holds  in  suspen- 
sion. 

Where  the  grade  is  very  slight,  drainage  may  be 
necessary  to  carry  off  an  excess  of  water.  After  culti- 
vation is  always  necessary  as  soon  as  the  soil  is  in  a 
suitable  condition,  from  twelve  to  twenty-four  hours 
being  sufficient  time  according  to  the  climatic  condi- 
tions of  heat  and  cold. 

In  all  cases  of  ditch  and  furrow  irrigation,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  less  the  number  of  distributing 
ditches  or  furrows,  the  less  the  quantity  of  water  turned 
into  the  soil. 

IRRIGATION  BY  FLOODING. 

(Submersion.) 

In  the  system  of  irrigation  by  flowing,  whatever 
method  be  adopted,  running  water  over  the  land,  or 
drawing  it  from  ditches  through  furrows,  the  best  con- 
ditions for  utilizing  water  are  realized,  that  is  to  say, 
so  far  as  movement,  aeration,  double  use,  and  facility 
of  distribution  are  concerned.  It  is  possible  to  avoid 
direct  contact  of  the  water  with  plants,  thus  retaining 
essential  atmospheric  influences,  and  also  regulating 
the  temperature  of  soil  and  vegetation.  In  this  latter 
case,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  even  in  the  arid, 
hot  regions,  the  application  of  cold  water  direct  from  a 
mountain  stream,  or  surface  well,  would  check  vegeta- 
tion, an  effect  which  is  always  deleterious  to  all  grow- 
ing crops. 

But  there  are  circumstances  when  flooding  or  sub- 
mersion of  the  soil  is  not  only  convenient  but  more 
beneficial,  inasmuch  as  it  supplies  the  soil  with  mois- 
ture to  a  greater  depth,  thus  furnishing  deep  rooted 
plants  with  food  material.  Keference  to  alfalfa  will 
make  this  clear. 


the  Science  am*  Art  of  Irrigation.  169 

Irrigation  by  flooding  is  simply  submerging  a 
given  tract  of  land,  by  covering  it  with  a  sheet  of  water 
more  or  less  deep,  and  allowing  it  to  remain  upon  it  a 
certain  time,  to  "soak"  into  the  soil  before  drawing  it 
off  to  use  on  some  other  tract. 

On  flat  or  level  ground,  preparations  for  submer- 
sion are  simple  and  easy.  It  suffices  to  smooth  the  sur- 
face by  reducing  knolls  and  filling  cavities  or  hollows 
by  means  of  a  plow,  cultivator,  or  road  scraper,  and 
then  throwing  up  ridges  of  earth  or  dikes  around  the 
edge  of  the  tract  to  retain  the  water. 

It  is  an  essentially  economical  method  of  irriga- 
tion, and  is  adapted  to  land  and  plants  which  do  not 
require  continuous  or  periodical  applications  of  water. 
Its  advantages  are  that  it  irrigates  uniformly;  utilizes 
all  the  water  applied,  it  being  absorbed  except  the  small 
fraction  lost  by  evaporation.  Again,  it  tends  to  enrich 
the  soil  more  than  any  other  system  by  giving  the  vari- 
ous organic  and  inorganic  solutions  suspended  in  the 
water  time  to  be  deposited  upon  and  carried  into  the 
soil.  Lastly,  it  insures  the  destruction  of  insects  and 
their  larvae  injurious  to  plants. 

Opposed  to  its  advantages  are  the  following  de- 
fects: 

The  plants  are  submerged  either  totally  or  par- 
tially, and  the  essential  atmospheric  influences  sus- 
pended; the  surface  of  the  land  is  cut  into  dikes  which 
interfere  with  adequate  cultivation,  and  the  consump- 
tion of  water  is  much  greater  in  a  given  time  than 
when  the  water  is  flowed  upon  the  land.  Exceptions 
might  be  made  to  include  alfalfa,  sugar  beets,  and 
heavy  root  crops — gross  feeders — the  proper  flooding 
of  which  could  not  be  detrimental,  but  on  the  con- 
trary beneficial.  It  is,  moreover,  essential  in  rice  cul- 
ture, and  highly  beneficial  in  vegetable  gardens,  fruit 
culture  and  in  vineyards. 


1*0  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

NATURAL  SUBMERSION. 

Irrigation  by  flooding,  though  produced  by  arti- 
ficial means,  is  effected  by  the  operations  of  nature  in 
many  regions  of  great  fertility  and  abundant  harvests. 
Countries  of  immense  extent  are  fertilized  by  periodi- 
cal, or  rather  annual  submersions  without  which  the 
soil  would  be  absolutely  barren. 

Such  countries  are  Egypt,  which  is  fertilized  by 
the  regular  flooding  of  the  river  Nile;  the  llamas, 
pampas,  and  steppes  of  South  America,  which  are 
boundless  natural  pastures,  maintained  by  the  periodi- 
cal overflow  of  numberless  streams  and  rivers,  and 
whose  fertility  and  plant  growth  could  not  be  per- 
petuated by  artificial  irrigation  through  ditches,  be- 
cause of  the  absence  of  grade  to  allow  flowing.  In  the 
zone  bounded  by  the  dikes  and  river  bed  of  the  Rhone, 
between  Avignon  and  the  sea,  in  France,  the  lands  are 
submerged  through  their  whole  extent  during  the  win- 
ter months.  Cereals,  alfalfa,  vines,  fruit  trees  and 
vegetables  grow  to  perfection  without  other  fertiliza- 
tion and  with  very  little  cultivation.  The  damages 
from  these  annual  inundations,  though  not  slight,  are 
regarded  as  of  little  consequence  when  compared  with 
the  benefits  derived  from  them. 

Other  regions  might  be  specified  if  it  were  neces- 
sary to  advocate  the  benefits  of  land  flooding.  We 
might  go  back  into  the  misty  ages  of  antiquity  and 
point  to  the  wonderfully  fertile  regions  around  the 
Euphrates  and  Tigris,  and  depict  the  glories  of  ancient 
dynasties  that  reached  the  pinnacle  of  earthly  great- 
ness through  the  fertilizing  of  land  by  flooding,  and 
show  how  those  powerful  dynasties  crumbled  into  dust 
when  the  lands  were  no  longer  thus  fertilized,  but  this 
is  intended  to  be  a  practical  work  with  barely  enough 
sentiment  to  make  it  readable. 


The  Science  and  Art  of  Irrigation.  161 

ARTIFICIAL  FLOODING. 

It  is  possible  for  man  to  imitate  or  copy  nature, 
even  to  surpass  nature,  for  he  can  control  his  water 
supply,  whereas  that  of  nature  is  uncontrollable  to  a 
great  extent  and  destructive — a  combination  of  utility 
and  damage. 

There  are  two  methods  of  artificial  flooding  or 
submersion  of  land: 

If  the  irrigation  water  provided  for  ditch  or  flow- 
ing is  not  all  exhausted  by  that  process,  it  is  run  upon 
land  especially  prepared  for  submersion,  and  allowed 
to  remain  upon  it  stagnant  for  a  certain  length  of  time, 
longer  in  winter  than  in  summer,  until  it  is  all  ab- 
sorbed. Or,  when  there  is  at  hand  a  greater  quantity 
of  water  than  is  needed  for  ditch  purposes,  it  is  allowed 
to  flow  over  the  tops  of  the  dikes,  in  proportion  as  fresh 
water  is  added,  and  then  the  water  becomes  flowing 
water  to  be  utilized  upon  a  series  of  submergible  fields. 

In  the  first  case,  that  of  stagnant  or  still  water 
charged  with  mud  or  other  fertilizing  material  and  food 
supplies,  the  matter  is  deposited  upon  the  soil,  which, 
in  the  case  of  sandy  soil,  or  light  loams,  fertilizes  and 
consolidates  them  into  consistency. 

In  the  second  case,  where  the  climate  is  frosty  in 
winter,  plant  life  in  the  soil  is  protected;  mud  and 
soluble  materials  are  deposited  in  less  quantities,  and 
the  atmosphere,  or  oxygen  in  the  soil  is  not  completely 
intercepted  for  the  benefit  of  weeds  and  deleterious 
plants. 

LAYING  OUT  THE  LAND. 

The  best  arrangement  of  a  tract  of  land  designed 
for  submersion,  is  to  divide  it  into  sections,  or  basins,  by 
means  of  dikes  or  ridges,  which  may  be  thrown  up  by 
the  plow.  Each  section,  fed  by  the  ditch,  retains  its 
water,  the  same  being  allowed  to  run  into  it  laterally 
until  it  stops,  and  becomes  stationary  or  stagnant.  In 


162  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

this  way  the  humidity  in  the  soil  is  equalized  or  ren- 
dered uniform. 

On  large  level  tracts,  or  where  the  subsoil  is  im- 
pervious, the  sections  or  basins  may  be  enlarged.  In 
that  case  the  flow  into  the  basins  should  be  hastened  so 
that  every  portion  of  the  basin  be  covered  simulta- 
neously, otherwise  the  humidity  would  not  be  uniform. 
The  only  limit  to  the  size  or  extent  of  these  basins  is 
the  supply  of  water  and  the  facilities  for  flowing  it 
upon  the  soil.  Several  openings  may  be  made  from 
the  distributing  ditch  to  hasten  the  process,  and  the 
length  of  time  the  water  is  to  remain  upon  the  soil  is 
gauged  by  its  permeability.  The  soil  should  not  be 
saturated  unless  a  system  of  drainage  is  provided.  This 
can  only  be  determined  by  testing  the  soil  after  the 
water  has  been  run  off  or  is  all  taken  up.  If  sodden, 
there  is  too  much,  if  after  a  few  hours  it  will  not  pack 
in  the  hand,  it  is  ample.  If  the  quantity  of  the  flow 
of  water  justify  it,  a  number  of  basins  may  be  sub- 
merged simultaneously  by  openings  made  through  the 
ridges  or  dikes. 

Submersion  without  dividing  the  land  into  basins 
causes  a  great  loss  of  water.  During  the  daytime 
it  is  possible  to  regulate  the  flow  of  water,  and  with  a 
plow,  furrows  may  be  run  in  various  directions,  or  a 
hoe  is  often  sufficient  to  direct  the  water  uniformly 
over  the  surface.  But  at  night,  it  is  not  so  easy  to  con- 
trol the  course  of  the  flow,  particularly  on  large  tracts 
of  land.  Night  irrigation  of  this  kind  is  practised, 
but  the  crop  appears  luxuriant  in  spots,  which  shows 
lack  of  uniformity  in  the  application  of  the  water. 

As  to  the  size  of  these  basins  to  be  submerged,  the 
lay  of  the  land  and  the  water  supply  must  be  the  guides. 
There  are  irrigated  lands  with  submerged  basins  from 
the  extent  of  a  small  garden  patch  up  to  a  hundred-acre 
tract  in  alfalfa. 


The  Science  and  Art  of  Irrigation.  I6S 

In  extensive  tracts,  particularly  cereals,  beets,  etc., 
flowing  and  ditch  irrigation  would  be  speedier  and  more 
economical  than  submersion,  and  in  many  cases  more 
advantageous,  particularly  in  the  case  of  shallow  rooted 
plants.  Thus  flowing  is  preferable  in  the  case  of  barley, 
but  submersion  would  be  beneficial  in  the  case  of  peas, 
the  former  spreading  out  its  roots  near  the  surface, 
and  the  latter  thrusting  them  down  deep  into  the  soil. 
So,  potatoes  will  not  stand  submersion,  but  beets  can 
scarcely  be  drowned  out.  In  rice  culture,  as  has  been 
said,  submersion  is  essential. 

Should  the  land  have  a  slope  or  grade  impossible  to 
level,  care  must  be  taken  to  provide  a  lower  dike  suf- 
ficiently high  to  overcome  the  height  at  the  top  where 
the  water  supply  enters,  for  in  such  case,  the  water  at 
the  top  of  the  grade  would  barely  cover  the  soil,  but  flow 
over  the  top  of  the  lower  dike  and  thus  become  flowing 
water  and  not  stagnant  or  stationary. 

Professor  Schwerz,  in  his  treatise  on  practical 
agriculture,  thus  refers  to  the  advantages  and  the 
disadvantages  of  submersion: 

"By  inundating  the  soil  it  is  easy  to  shield  a 
field  from  any  unfavorable  temperature  (heat  or  cold). 

"The  preparations  for  inundation  are  generally 
inexpensive.  The  food  elements  held  in  solution  by 
the  water  have  ample  time  to  be  deposited  upon  the 
soil.  Insects  injurious  to  vegetation,  and  which  are  not 
destroyed  by  ordinary  irrigation,  are  totally  destroyed, 
and  the  same  may  be  said  of  noxious  weeds  in  arid 
soils. 

"On  the  other  hand,  many  serviceable  plants  are 
drowned  by  prolonged  inundations;  herbs  are  rendered 
less  hardy  to  changes  of  temperature,  and  hay  and  for- 
age plants  generally  are  of  inferior  quality.  Inundation 
is  deleterious  at  the  flowering  period  of  plants,  though 
they  can  be  irrigated  beneficially  in  other  modes.  Fin- 
ally, to  inundate  a  large  field  rapidly  throughout  its 


164  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

entire  extent  is  to  consume  an  enormous  amount  of  irri- 
gation water." 

From  these  considerations,  the  scientist  draws  the 
conclusion  that,  "The  choice  between  inundation  and 
ordinary  irrigation  must  lie  in  favor  of  that  ordinary 
irrigation,  although  in  turfy,  tough  soils,  or  one  very 
porous,  inundation  is  more  advantageous/7 


CHAPTEK  XIV. 

THE   SCIENCE  AND   ART   OF   IRRIGATION— INFILTRATION 
OR  SEEPAGE. 

Irrigation  by  infiltration  or  seepage  is  effected,  fol- 
lowing the  configuration  of  the  soil,  by  means  of  flowing, 
or  sleeping  water  seeping  or  soaking  into  the  soil  from 
ditches,  canals,  or  other  waterways  at  or  beneath  the 
surface  of  the  land.  The  water  spreads,  soaks,  seeps 
out  fanlike  into  the  soil  from  the  sides  and  bottom  of 
the  ditch  or  canal,  and  descends  in  pursuance  of  the  law 
of  gravity,  or  ascends  in  accordance  with  the  law  of 
capillary  motion  toward  the  surface,  where  it  evaporates 
unless  its  course  is  stopped  by  breaking  up  the  soil. 

Water  descending  by  the  force  of  gravity  continues 
on  until  it  meets  with  what  is  commonly  called  "ground 
water,"  with  which  it  mingles.  If  it  does  not  encounter 
ground  water,  or  a  water  table,  it  expends  its  energy  by 
descending  as  far  as  it  can  as  water,  then  it  is  converted 
into  moisture  and  begins  making  its  way  to  the  surface 
through  capillary  motion.  Infiltration  rests  upon  the 
principle  of  the  permeability  of  the  soil,  and  hence,  this 
method  of  irrigation  is  not  always  so  beneficial  as  those 
which  have  been  already  mentioned,  for  it  consumes  a 
large  quantity  of  water  without  supplying  the  soil  with 
a  uniform  humidity.  There  is  this  exception,  however; 
when  the  flowing  water  in  the  trench,  ditch,  or  under- 
ground conveyance  reaches  the  intended  root  zone  and 
there  spreads  out  or  seeps  into  soil  wheje  it  can  be  di- 
rectly utilized.  This  is  one  of  the  advantages  of  sub- 
irrigation,  a  system  which  can  not  be  ignored  for  many 
reasons. 

-  SUB-IRRIGATION. 

Sub-irrigation  is  a  variety  of  infiltration  which  pos- 
sesses many  advantages  over  surface  irrigation  where 

m 


1W  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

wastage  of  water  is  an  object  to  be  avoided.  By  this 
system,  land  too  elevated  to  be  reached  through  other 
means  is  transformed  into  fertility.  In  the  case  of  hill 
land  it  is  admirable  for  cereals,  and  also  on  lands  where 
weeds  abound.  It  lends  an  invaluable  aid  to  special 
plant  cultures,  such  as  grapes,  olives,  oranges  and  citrus 
fruits  generally,  and  in  gardening.  It  enables  steep 
lands  to  be  cut  into  terraces  which  irrigation  water  could 
not  reach  or  in  which  it  could  not  penetrate  to  a  suf- 
ficient depth.  In  addition  to  these  advantages,  the  ap- 
plication of  underground  water  to  arid  or  waste  land 
covered  with  gravel  or  sand,  permits  the  propagation  and 
cultivation  of  productive  plants  which  would  otherwise 
perish  through  dryness  of  subsoil.  Finally,  a  well  ar- 
ranged system  of  sub-irrigation  operates  as  a  drainage 
system,  and  thus  a  double  purpose  is  served. 

The  nature  of  the  soil  is  of  more  importance  than 
the  configuration  of  the  land  in  sub -irrigation.  In  this 
respect,  hard,  impenetrable  soils,  and  those  too  open 
and  porous  should  be  avoided  for  general  infiltration 
purposes.  Experience  alone  is  able  to  guide  the  irrigator 
in  establishing  any  system  of  deep  ditches,  the  main 
point  to  be  attained  is  always  to  provide  for  moistening 
the  soil  uniformly. 

FURROW    IRRIGATION. 

Applied  to  cultivated  land,  furrow  irrigation  is 
allied  to  infiltration.  Eunning  water  into  furrows  be- 
tween the  rows  of  plants  and  then  cultivating  over  is  a 
very  common  method  of  irrigation  by  infiltration,  and 
is  suitable  for  all  shallow  rooted  plants,  corn,  potatoes, 
and  tubers  generally.  The  after  cultivation  by  which 
the  surface  soil  is  pulverized,  forms  a  mulch  which  re- 
tains the  moisture  below  for  a  long  period.  It  is  also 
adopted  on  a  large  scale  in  orchards,  vineyards,  and 
nurseries;  for  small  fruits,  vegetable  and  flower  gardens, 
wherever,  in  fact,  deep  irrigation  or  sub-irrigation, 


The  Science  and  Art  of  Irrigation,  Etc.  107 

flooding,  or  flowing  would  be  useless,  or  inefficient.  It 
is  well  to  provide  that  the  water  or  surface  wet  be  pre- 
vented from  spreading  as  far  as  the  stalks  or  bodies 
of  the  plants,  for  that  means  rotting,  restricting  it  to  the 
service  of  the  roots.  This  renders  this  method  of  irriga- 
tion more  efficacious  than  direct  irrigation  for  the  reason 
that  the  humidity  is  imprisoned  around  the  roots  where 
it  is  needed  and  evaporation  retarded. 

It  is  in  the  kitchen  garden  that  infiltration  attains 
marvelous  results,  particularly  in  the  culture  of  root 
plants.  In  fact,  it  is  the  only  system  of  irrigation  which 
enables  plants  to  obtain  the  greatest  quantity  of  nutritive 
elements  from  a  given  surface.  The  soil  is  never  at 
rest,  and  where  the  climate  is  favorable,  one  crop  after 
another  may  be  grown  all  the  year  around,  and  even  in 
climates  where  the  farmer  is  satisfied  with  one  crop  each 
season  he  may  easily  raise  two.  It  is  the  equivalent  to 
hothouse  culture  so  far  as  growth  is  concerned,  but  the 
plants  possess  a  quality  unknown  to  forced  cultivation. 

WINTER  IRRIGATION. 

Infiltration  or  sub-irrigation  is  an  admirable  system 
for  what  is  known  as  "winter  irrigation,"  when  the  water 
supply  is  more  abundant  than  is  the  case  in  the  dry 
or  growing  season  in  humid  climates.  Water  is  run 
into  the  underground  conduits  to  fill  the  soil  with  mois- 
ture, and  then  by  the  further  storing  up  of  the  water  in 
excess,  surface  irrigation  becomes  practicable  when  it 
comes  to  planting,  and  plants  are  supplied  with  moisture 
until  their  first  true  leaves  are  formed,  by  which  time 
their  roots  are  in  moisture  laden  soil  and  they  grow  to 
maturity  with  very  little  after  irrigation,  unless  shallow 
rooted,  in  which  case  surface  irrigation  is  always  necessary. 

There  are  three  atmospheric  and  meteorological 
conditions  which  should  be  considered  under  the  name 
of  winter:  In  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions  of  the 
South  and  Southwest  and  on  the  Pacific  slope,  where 


188  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

the  Euro  Siwa  or  Japanese  ocean  current  creates  a  per- 
petual spring  climate,  what  is  known  as  the  winter  sea- 
son is  the  growing  period  generally  for  cereals  and  gar- 
den products — it  is  the  "wet  season."  If  there  be  •  any 
rainfall  at  all  it  begins  about  November  and  ends  in 
April.  Sometimes  the  rainfall  is  not  more  than  five 
or  ten  inches,  perhaps  fifteen  inches,  an  amount  so 
small  to  a  farmer  in  the  humid  regions  that  he  would 
not  venture  to  move  a  plow,  but  eight  inches  is  con- 
sidered sufficient  to  raise  a  reasonable  crop  without 
irrigation,  provided  there  is  constant  cultivation.  In 
such  regions  every  drop  of  water  is  utilized  and  care 
taken  to  prevent  evaporation. 

In  such  a  climate  the  farmer  dry  plants,  that  is, 
he  puts  his  seed  into  the  ground  when  the  latter  is  as 
dry  as  powder,  plowing  it  up  previously  or  plowing  his 
seed  under.  There  being  no  moisture  of  course  it  does 
not  sprout,  but  lies  in  the  soil  as  safely  as  in  his  barn 
bin.  But  when  the  first  rain  comes,  perhaps  only  half 
an  inch,  his  seed  is  up  in  a  few  days,  and  then  begins 
cultivation  to  prevent  evaporation.  This  is  continued 
during  the  entire  season,  after  every  shower,  large  or 
small,  so  that  his  crop  matures  very  well  on  eight  inches 
of  water  from  the  clouds,  aided,  however,  by  dews  and 
mists,  which,  as  has  been  said  in  a  former  chapter,  is 
quite  considerable. 

Here  winter  irrigation  is  of  the  most  incalculable 
benefit  for  the  deciduous  plants  which  spring  into  life 
in  March  and  April,  small  fruits,  orchards  and  the 
like,  for  it  fills  the  soil  with  moisture,  and  when  a  trifle 
of  surface  irrigation  is  added  the  plants  continue  grow- 
ing with  profusion  and  produce  profitable  crops. 

In  the  totally  arid  regions  where  there  is  no  rain- 
fall at  all,  nothing  but  aggravation  mists,  or  heavy,  foggy 
dews,  nothing  can  be  grown  without  irrigation  of  some 
kind,  and  experience  has  demonstrated  that  surface  ir- 


The  Science  and  Art  of  Irrigation,  Etc.  169 

rigation  can  not  very  well  be  performed  unless  there  is 
an  ocean  of  water  at  hand  to  be  wasted  in  evaporation, 
for  the  climate  is  usually  hot.  Now,  if  the  soil  can  be 
moistened  by  infiltration  through  subterranean  conduits, 
that  moisture  will  remain  in  the  soil  for  an  indefinite 
period  and  may  be  added  to  by  subsequent  irrigations. 
The  fact  is,  that  this  system  of  sub-irrigation  furnishes 
an  artificial  water  table  which  provides  capillary  attrac- 
tion something  upon  which  to  operate. 

The  same  results  may  be  attained  by  running  water 
into  deep  open  furrows,  care  being  taken  to  cultivate 
over  immediately,  and  then  infiltration  or  seepage  will 
begin  operating,  and  whatever  excess  there  may  be  will 
find  its  way  into  the  soil  in  all  directions,  from  a  higher 
field  to  a  lower  one,  and  from  one  slope  to  another,  for 
instance. 

The  second  climatic  condition  is  where  the  region  is 
cold  and  frosty,  precluding  winter  growth,  and  without 
very  much  snow  or  other  precipitated  moisture.  Here 
sub-irrigation  prepares  the  soil  for  spring  cultivation, 
and  sufficient  water  is  retained  for  surface  irrigation 
when  needed.  It  should  be  observed  that  constant  and 
deep  soil  cultivation  is  as  much  necessary  in  such  a 
region  as  in  an  arid  or  semi-arid  one,  the  rule  being 
that  the  roots  of  plants  must  be  provided  with  adequate 
moisture  regardless  of  surface  conditions. 

The  third  condition  of  climate  is  where  the  raina 
and  snows  of  winter  are  comparatively  heavy,  equal  to 
the  rainfall  in  the  sub-humid  sections,  but  the  cold  is 
too  great  to  permit  any  sort  of  plant  life.  In  such 
case  winter  irrigation  is  as  much  of  a  necessity  as  in 
the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions  because  the  necessities 
are  the  same.  There  is  a  cessation  of  water  precipita- 
tion in  the  spring  of  the  year,  or  else  the  precipitation 
during  the  growing  season  is  not  sufficient  to  mature 


170  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

a  crop,  hence  there  must  be  water  enough  stored  up  in 
the  soil  to  meet  the  coming  drought. 

IRRIGATION  BY  SPRINKLING. 

Water  sprinkling  is  practically  artificial  rain  in  a 
email  way.  In  an  arid  climate  it  is  of  trifling  advantage 
unless  other  means  of  irrigating  are  employed,  or  unless 
there  is  a  thick  growth  of  vegetation  which  shades  the 
ground,  or  "mats,"  as  in  the  case  of  strawberries,  etc. 
It  is  adapted  to  garden  culture,  however,  and  in  horti- 
cultural cultivation  generally  it  is  of  the  highest  excel- 
lence. Where  water  can  be  conveyed  in  pipes,  with 
hydrants  placed  at  intervals  to  admit  of  hose  attach- 
ments, there  is  no  better  system  of  irrigation,  though 
in  this,  as  in  all  others,  the  soil  must  be  kept  open  to 
retard  evaporation,  otherwise  constant  applications  of 
water  are  necessary  to  keep  plants  growing. 

Where  water  is  not  obtainable  from  pipes  and 
hydrants,  a  tank  on  a  two  wheeled  cart,  with  a  pro- 
jecting sprinkler  is  commonly  used.  In  ordinary  vege- 
table gardens  hand  sprinklers  are  used,  the  water  being 
run  into  a  convenient  reservoir,  which  may  be  a  barrel 
sunk  into  the  ground,  and  the  water  dipped  out.  With 
one  or  with  one  sprinkler  in  each  hand,  the  irrigator 
walks  along  the  rows,  slowly  sprinkling  the  plants  with 
water  until  it  runs  off  the  ground  as  in  a  rainfall.  Many 
plants  are  benefited  by  this  system  of  irrigation.  Flow- 
ers, small  bush  fruits,  strawberries,  and  even  trees,  the 
spraying  of  water  upon  which  washes  the  leaves  and 
freshens  them,  or  as  it  is  sometimes  expressed,  "gives 
them  a  drink." 

In  market  gardens  in  proximity  to  cities,  hydrant 
water  is  plentiful  and  this  is  used  for  sprinkling  or 
any  desired  system  of  irrigation.  Lawns  are  watered 
by  means  of  a  rubber  hose  with  all  sorts  of  attachments 
intended  to  scatter  the  water  over  the  largest  space. 
Where  windmills  are  in  use  and  elevated  tanks  common, 


The  Science  and  Art  of  Irrigation,  Etc.  171 

all  the  advantages  of  hydrant  water  may  be  secured  at 
small  expense,  and  the  same  is  the  case  where  the 
farmer  is  so  fortunate  as  to  have  an  elevated  acre  or 
two  of  ground  in  which  to  dig  a  catch  reservoir.  There 
are  some  doubts  as  to  the  proper  time  during  the  day  to 
irrigate  crops  or  plants  by  sprinkling.  Some  contend 
that  the  evening  or  the  early  morning  is  the  best  time 
while  others,  again,  contend  that  it  does  not  make  any 
difference.  It  does  make  a  difference,  when  one  stops 
to  think.  In  the  early  morning  the  water  is  chilled  after 
the  hours  of  the  night,  and  when  water  is  applied  after 
sundown  it  becomes  cold  and  where  the  water  is  coldei 
than  the  plant  it  is  not  beneficial,  but  stops  growth.  To 
recur  again  to  the  everlasting  Chinaman,  whose  ideas  are 
founded  on  centuries  of  success  in  growing  anything  he 
attempts,  he  can  be  seen  religiously  pouring  water  on 
his  plants,  even  the  most  delicate,  while  the  hot  sun  is 
shining  down  upon  them  with  a  burning  heat.  One 
looks  in  vain  for  the  plants  to  droop  and  wither  under 
such  treatment,  for  they  keep  on  growing  vigorously 
and  luxuriantly  under  the  influence  of  the  heat  and 
the  watery  vapor  engendered  by  the  heat  of  the  sun. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  by  the  constant  or  regu- 
lar application  of  water  to  the  soil,  in  quantities  to  equal 
evaporation,  the  ground  will  be  maintained  in  a  moist 
condition  favorable  to  plant  growth.  Moreover,  there 
is  always  less  water  required  for  a  second  application 
than  for  a  first  one,  and  the  quantity  diminishes  with 
each  application,  until  a  modicum  of  water  will  be 
reached  and  a  profitable  crop  raised  economically.  Where 
there  is  no  water  in  the  subsoil,  or  at  least  none  attain- 
able by  capillary  motion,  irrigation  creates  an  artificial 
one  which  may  be  drawn  upon  by  aeration  of  the  soil 
by  deep  cultivation.  Where  there  is  a  water  table  al- 
ready within  serviceable  distance  of  the  surface,  irriga- 
tion may  be  so  regulated  as  to  keep  the  soil  open  and 


172  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

aerated  by  the  flowing  of  water  through  it,  and  when 
that  object  has  been  attained,  the  labor  of  irrigation  will 
have  been  reduced  to  an  economical  minimum  and  pro- 
duction astonishingly  increased. 

We  shall  have  more  to  say  on  the  subject  of  sub- 
irrigation  in  a  special  chapter  devoted  to  the  system. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

SUB-IRRIGATION — DRAINAGE. 

Infiltration,  or  seepage,  as  a  method  of  irrigation  is 
included  in  this  chapter  because  it  is  practically  sub- 
irrigation. 

The  drainage  here  referred  to  is  that  system  of 
carrying  off  the  surplus  or  excess  of  water  through  un- 
derground conveyances,  when  the  same  is  connected 
with  a  system  of  sub-irrigation.  Drainage  proper  will 
furnish  matter  for  a  special  chapter  on  the  subject. 

Irrigation  by  infiltration,  or  seepage,  is  effected 
through  following  the  configuration  of  the  land,  by 
means  of  flowing  or  sleeping  water  seeping  through  or 
into  the  soil  from  ditches,  canals,  or  pipes,  uncovered  or 
covered,  but  located  below  the  surface  of  the  ground. 
The  water  spreads  out,  seeps  or  soaks  out  from  the  con- 
veyance fan-like  into  the  soil  from  the  sides  and  bot- 
tom of  the  ditch,  canal  or  pipe,  and,  following  the  law 
of  gravity,  descends  or  ascends  in  accordance  with  the 
law  of  capillary  attraction. 

Infiltration  rests  upon  the  principle  of  the  per- 
meability of  the  soil,  and  hence,  this  method  of  irriga- 
tion is  not  always  as  beneficial  as  those  already 
mentioned,  for  the  reason  that  it  consumes  a  large 
quantity  of  water  without  supplying  the  soil  with  a 
uniform  humidity. 

Unless,  however,  and  here  are  two  occasions  when 
infiltration  is  more  economical  and  beneficial:  When 
the  water  in  the  trench,  or  ditch,  or  underground  con- 
veyance is  running  water,  and  when  it  reaches  the  roots 
of  the  plants  intended  without  spreading  out  where  it 
can  not  be  utilized. 

The  advantages  of  underground  or  sub-irrigation 
are  too  numerous  to  be  ignored.  By  this  system,  land 
too  elevated  to  be  reached  by  water  through  other  means 

17S 


174  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

may  be  transformed  into  fertile  tracts.  In  the  case 
of  hill  land  it  is  admirable  for  cereals,  and  also  on  lands 
where  weeds  abound.  It  lends  an  invaluable  aid  to  a 
series  of  special  cultures,  such  as  grapes,  olives,  oranges 
and  citrus  fruits  generally,  likewise  in  gardening.  It 
enables  steep  land  to  be  cut  into  terraces  which  irriga- 
tion water  generally  could  not  penetrate  to  a  sufficient 
depth.  In  addition  to  these  advantages,  the  application 
of  underground  water  on  arid  or  waste  land  covered 
with  sand  or  gravel,  permits  the  propagation  and  cul- 
tivation of  profitable  productive  plants  which  would 
otherwise  perish  through  dryness  of  sub-soil.  Finally, 
.a  well  arranged  system  of  sub-irrigation  operates  as  a 
drainage  system  as  well  as  for  irrigation. 

The  nature  of  the  soil  is  more  important  than  the 
configuration  of  the  ground  in  sub-irrigation.  In  this 
respect,  hard  impenetrable  soils  should  be  avoided  for 
irrigation  by  infiltration.  Experience  alone  can  guide 
the  irrigator  in  establishing  his  system  of  deep  ditches, 
the  main  point  being  always  to  provide  for  moistening 
the  soil  uniformly. 

Furrow  irrigation  applied  to  cultivated  land  is 
similar  to  infiltration.  Eunning  water  into  furrows 
and  then  cultivating  the  soil  over  them  is  a  very  com- 
mon method  of  irrigating  by  infiltration,  and  it  is  suita- 
ble for  shallow  rooted  plants,  corn,  and  tubers  gen- 
erally. The  pulverized  earth  forms  a  mulch  which  ob- 
viates rapid  evaporation  and  enables  the  water  to  seep 
into  the  soil  in  every  direction  before  drying  out.  It 
is  also  adopted  on  a  large  scale  in  orchards,  vineyards, 
nurseries,  for  small  fruits  and  in  flower  and  vegetable 
gardens  where  deep  irrigation  or  sub-irrigation  proper 
would  not  be  effective.  In  all  such  methods  of  irriga- 
tion it  is  well  to  provide  that  the  water  or  surface  wet- 
ness be  prevented  from  extending  as  far  as  the  plant 
proper,  and  restrict  it  to  the  service  of  the  roots.  It  is 
considered  more  efficacious  than  direct  irrigation,  for  the 


Sub-Irrigation — Drainage.  175 

reason  that  the  humidity  is  imprisoned  around  the  roots 
and  evaporation  is  perceptibly  retarded. 

It  is  in  the  kitchen  garden,  applied  to  the  culture 
of  root  plants,  that  irrigation  by  infiltration  attains 
marvelous  results.  It  is  the  only  system  of  irrigation 
that  enables  plants  to  obtain  the  greatest  quantity  of 
nutritive  matter  from  a  given  surface.  The  soil  is  never 
at  rest;  one  crop  may  immediately  succeed  another, 
growth  continuing  all  the  year  around  without  interrup- 
tion. It  is,  in  the  hot  arid  regions,  equivalent  to  hot- 
house culture,  so  far  as  luxuriance  of  growth  is  con- 
cerned, but  the  crops  possess  a  quality  of  excellence 
unknown  to  forced  culture. 

SUBTERRANEAN  CONDUITS. 

Although  infiltration  is  sub-irrigation,  many  per- 
sons limit  the  system  of  sub-irrigation  to  the  conveyance 
of  water  through  underground  pipes,  tiles  or  conduits. 
This  method  of  irrigation  is  very  ancient  in  its  applica- 
tion to  special  cultures,  or  to  utilize  liquid  fertilizers. 
When  the  volume  of  water  is  limited,  the  soil  too  porous 
for  surface  applications,  the  method  of  applying  water 
to  the  roots  of  plants  through  subterranean  conduits  is 
very  successful  in  its  results,  but  only,  let  it  be  said, 
for  very  profitable  plants.  In  general,  the  great  ex- 
pense attendant  upon  the  installation  of  a  system  of 
underground  conduits  has  prevented  the  common  use 
of  this  system  of  irrigation,  ordinary  infiltration  as 
above  described  having  been  found  satisfactory. 

But  the  constant  pouring  of  water  upon  the  soil  in 
many  of  the  older  irrigated  districts  in  the  arid  region, 
has  resulted  in  creating  a  water  table  near  the  surface, 
so  near  in  fact  that  formerly  fertile  tracts  of  land  have 
been  converted  into  swamps.  Hence,  drainage  has  be- 
come a  problem  necessary  to  be  solved  -if  fertile  lands 
and  profitable  orchards  are  to  be  saved  from  destruction, 
and  it  is  gradually  dawning  upon  the  minds  of  irriga- 


176  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

tors  that  where  there  is  a  system  of  sub-irrigation  there 
is  also  a  system  of  drainage  ready  at  hand. 

The  writer  advances  the  proposition  founded  on 
long  experience  in  other  countries  of  similar  soil,  climate 
and  meteorology  as  the  arid  and  semi-arid  lands  of  the 
west,  that  sub-irrigation  and  drainage  may  well  go  to- 
gether, and  that  if  tiling  or  other  media  be  so  arranged 
in  underground  conduits,  they  will  serve  a  double  pur- 
pose, one  highly  economical  and  productive  of  good 
results.  The  conditions,  indeed,  are  identical.  The 
water  passing  through  the  drain  pipes  is  surplus  water, 
which  may  quite  naturally  be  used  over  again  as  is  the 
surplus  water  from  a  surface  ditch,  or  that  from  over- 
flowed land. 

Nearly  a  hundred  years  ago  the  scientist  Fellen- 
berg  put  in  at  the  agricultural  establishment  of  Hofwyl, 
near  the  city  of  Berne,  a  system  of  sub-irrigation 
through  subterranean  conduits,  for  the  purpose  of 
moistening  the  fields  in  dry  periods,  when  the  spongy 
soil  of  the  gardens  commenced  to  dry  and  crack,  and 
when  the  turf  was  not  sufficiently  packed  to  permit  sur- 
face irrigation. 

These  underground  conduits  were  so  arranged  as  to 
serve  two  purposes:  to  carry  off  drainage  water,  or  to 
retain  it  for  moistening  the  soil.  To  accomplish  this 
end  the  pipes  were  cut  at  fixed  points  by  a  mass  of  clay 
which  was  traversed  by  a  drain  which  served  as  a  com- 
munication between  the  ends  of  the  conduit,  and  which 
could  be  closed  by  means  of  a  movable  plug  or  valve. 
To  cause  the  water  to  ascend  or  flow  into  the  soil,  it 
sufficed  to  stop  or  plug  up  the  tubing  below  the  point 
to  be  irrigated,  and  the  water  flowing  through  the  drain 
rose  to  its  level  and  flowed  into  ground  by  infiltration. 

The  idea  was  approved  in  England,  and  in  1839 
Fellenberg's  system  was  adopted,  and  irrigation  by  in- 
filtration came  into  common  use,  largely,  however,  for 
the  purpose  of  flowing  liquid  manures  through  pipes  to 


Sub-Irrigation — Drainage.  177 

fertilize  the  sub-soil  of  arable  land.  The  system  was 
afterward  enlarged  and  developed  into  a  system  of  sub- 
irrigation  where  surface  irrigation  could  not  be  prac- 
ticed. It  was  carried  to  the  United  States  and  is  now 
quite  common  where  water  is  scarce,  and  in  orchards, 
vineyards  and  for  deep  rooted  plants  generally. 

SUB-IRRIGATION  AND  DRAINAGE  COMBINED. 

In  every  properly  arranged  system  of  irrigation  the 
ditches  or  other  conveyers  of  water  are  equivalent  to 
open  drains  devised  for  the  purpose  of  flowing  water 
from  the  surface  along  lines  and  in  directions  carefully 
surveyed. 

According  to  the  common  understanding,  drainage 
means  carrying  off  an  excess  of  water  from  swamps 
and  cold,  over-moist  soils  for  the  purpose  of  reclaiming 
them,  or  converting  them  into  fertile  fields.  But  since 
irrigation  plays  so  important  a  part  in  farm  economy 
and  profitable  plant  culture,  indeed,  since  it  has  become 
an  absolutely  essential  element  of  success  in  the  arid 
and  sub-humid  regions  of  the  United  States,  and  is 
gaining  ground  in  the  humid  regions,  it  has  been  dis- 
covered through  costly  experience  that  drainage  and 
irrigation  are  inseparable  systems. 

Originally,  the  pioneer  farmer  on  arid  and  semi- 
arid  lands,  finding  none  at  all  or  very  little  water  or 
even  moisture  in  the  sub-soil,  disregarded  drainage  if 
he  ever  even  thought  of  such  a  thing,  and  went  on  pour- 
ing water  upon  the  soil  and  into  it  faster  than  it  could 
evaporate. 

The  surplus  accumulated  little  by  little,  until  after 
a  few  years  he  discovered  that  his  vines,  trees  and  even 
small  fruits  were  beginning  to  die  at  the  tops.  Investi- 
gation disclosed  the  curious  fact  in  an  arid  region,  that 
there  was  too  much  water  in  the  soil ;  that  a  water  table 
had  formed,  in  some  cases  within  two  and  four  feet  of 
the  surface,  and  that  no  means  of  drainage  having  been 


178  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

provided,  this  water  table  was  constantly  rising,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  very  few  years  his  land  would  become  a 
valueless  swamp.  A  ridiculous  thing  in  a  rainless 
region,  but  one  that  was  quite  common. 

Again,  the  advent  of  an  enormous  ditch  or  canal 
was  hailed  with  joy.  It  meant  water,  and  water  in  the 
arid  regions,  it  must  be  confessed,  means  everything. 
As  years  went  on,  the  water  in  the  canal  was  insidiously 
working  its  way  through  the  sub-soil  by  infiltration  or 
seepage  and  dissolving  the  deleterious  alkalis  in  the  soil 
through  which  it  passed,  carried  the  solution  down  to 
the  low  lying  lands,  saturated  them  and  evaporating, 
left  a  whitened  soil  dead,  so  far  as  useful  vegetation 
was  concerned.  Quite  naturally  there  was  much  con- 
sternation, and  various  remedies  were  thought  of.  Beets 
and  sorghum,  and  other  gross  {feeding  plans,  were 
recommended  as  alkali  destroyers.  Then  ditches  were 
dug  to  carry  off  the  seepage  water  from  the  bottom 
lands  or  to  prevent  further  infiltration  from  the  canals. 
An  unconscious  recognition  of  the  necessity  for  drains. 

Still  the  insidious  infiltration  went  on,  and  by  and 
by  barren  black  or  white  patches  began  to  appear  higher 
up  the  sloping  land,  until  seepage  water  became  the  bane 
of  the  irrigation  farmer.  Then  came  the  idea  of  cement- 
ing the  great  ditches  to  prevent  seepage,  a  good  policy 
where  water  is  to  be  transported  long  distances  but  if  all 
ditches  were  cemented  there  would  be  no  infiltration  and 
many  lands  would  revert  to  an  arid  condition  and 
pioneering  would  have  to  begin  over  again.  The  great 
aim  of  converting  arid  lands  into  fertile,  moistened 
soil  would  be  defeated  if  seepage  or  infiltration  were  to 
be  stopped  entirely. 

Out  of  this  condition  grew  the  idea  of  drainage 
systems  which  it  was  supposed  would  more  or  less  ob- 
viate the  alkali  trouble,  but  this  also  deprived  the  land 
of  seepage  water  from  canals  and  ditches  in  which  the 
water  was  good  irrigating  water,  and  so  wasted  it. 


Sub- Irrigation — Drainage.  17t 

Scientists  came  to  the  rescue  and  gave  the  patent 
opinion  that  the  good  water  became  bad  by  associating 
with  the  deleterious  elements  in  the  soil,  picking  them 
up  in  solution  and  carrying  them  along  down  to  the 
lower  levels,  and  then  backing  up,  on  the  principle  that 
it  is  the  nature  of  water  to  seek  its  own  level,  carried  up 
the  deadly  ingredients  to  the  surface,  and  there 
abandoned  them  in  a  cowardly  fashion  and  evaporated, 
leaving  alkali  and  other  impurities  behind  to  destroy 
vegetation,  ruin  fertility. 

But  this  did  not  dishearten  the  farmer,  for  if  one 
tract  of  land  ceased  to  be  productive  by  reason  of  an 
excess  of  alkali  deposits,  he  selected  a  virgin  tract  out  of 
his  numerous  broad  acres  and  went  on  as  before.  But 
now  he  is  confronted  with  the  alkali  fiend  on  all  sides 
in  certain  regions  and  seeks  a  remedy  against  it.  The 
demand  now  is  for  small  farms,  every  foot  of  which 
may  be  made  productive,  and  be  more  profitable  than 
a  large  ranch  cultivated  in  patches. 

Years,  nay,  ages  ago,  in  other  arid  regions  than 
those  of  the  United  States,  the  same  difficulties  en- 
countered by  the  western  irrigation  farmer  were  ex- 
perienced and  sought  to  be  overcome  by  means  of  drain- 
age. It  was  soon  discovered  that  by  drainage  alone,  the 
vegetating  stratum  above  the  drain  pipes  no  longer  pre- 
sented its  natural  cohesion,  but  dried  and  cracked  into 
fissures  to  such  an  extent  that  surface  irrigating  water 
cut  gullies  into  the  soil  through  which  it  rapidly  dis- 
appeared on  its  way  to  the  drains  to  be  wasted  or  to 
obstruct  the  drain  pipes.  These  inconveniences  were 
grave  in  the  case  of  small  irrigating  ditches,  but  were 
aggravated  when  the  main  supply  ditch  or  canal  crossed 
the  line  of  drains.  A  remedy  was  sought  by  giving  the 
drains  a  steeper  incline  to  create  a  strong,  rapid  current 
through  the  pipes,  or  by  using  light  conduits  with  ver- 
tical wells  or  tubing  at  certain  fixed  points,  up  which  the 


180  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

excess  water  might  rise  and  thus  regulate  the  flow,  or 
again  by  isolating  the  drains  and  the  irrigating  ditches. 

In  drained  fields  two  experiments  were  tried : 

First.  The  drains  were  buried  only  about  four 
inches  below  the  turf,  and  the  surplus  water  allowed 
to  spread  out  through  open  joints  of  the  tiles,  or  through 
openings  expressly  made  for  the  purpose,  within  reach 
of  the  roots,  whereas,  in  drainage  exclusively,  the 
drains  operated  contrariwise  by  drawing  the  water  away 
from  the  roots.  By  this  method  none  of  the  land  was 
overlooked  and  irrigation  could  be  effected  at  any  time, 
and  liquid  fertilizers  could  be  introduced  whenever  de- 
sirable. The  pipes  were  easily  laid  in  an  ordinary  fur- 
row opened  by  a  plow,  and  could  be  multiplied  economi- 
cally to  any  extent. 

Second.  The  second  process  was  to  lay  a  certain 
number  of  drains  along  the  line  of  the  steepest  grade 
and  connect  them  with  a  transverse  collecting  pipe  or 
conduit,  in  the  center  of  which  was  arranged  a  vertical 
tube  or  well  of  wood  or  tile,  up  which  the  water  ascended 
and  flowed  over  into  a  main  ditch  from  which  the  sur- 
face could  be  irrigated  in  the  usual  manner.  Each 
transverse  collecting  drain  corresponded  with  a  princi- 
pal flowing  ditch,  and  to  suspend  irrigation  all  that  was 
necessary  was  to  throw  open  the  front  or  end  of  each 
discharge  drain  where  it  entered  the  transverse  collect- 
ing drain. 

The  vertical  tubes  or  wells  were  vent  holes  pro- 
vided with  sluices  which  could  be  worked  from  the  top 
in  any  desired  convenient  manner,  whenever  it  was  de- 
sired to  drain  without  irrigation  or  irrigate  without 
draining,  or  whether  it  was  desired  to  hold  the  water  at 
a  given  level  in  the  soil  to  furnish  seepage  water  or 
irrigate  by  infiltration. 

The  principle  of  these  methods  is  identical  with 
that  of  ordinary  irrigation,  which,  after  all  is  said,  is 


Sub-Irrigation — Drainage.  181 

the  seepage  or  filtration  of  water  from  above  down 
through  the  soil,  and  the  absorption  by  the  soil  of  the 
elements  held  in  suspension  or  solution  by  the  water. 
Carbonic  acid  is  disengaged  by  flowing  over  the  surface, 
is  partially  decomposed  by  the  plants  and  absorbed  by 
them,  and  the  remainder  passes  into  the  soil.  Oxygen, 
after  subjecting  what  it  reaches  to  the  phenomena  of 
combustion,  which  explains  the  fertilizing  effects  of 
irrigation,  is  less  abundant  in  water  filtered  through  the 
soil  than  in  that  which  flows  over  the  surface,  while,  on 
the  contrary,  carbonic  and  sulphuric  acids  increase  in 
quantity.  By  seepage  or  infiltration  from  below  upward, 
mineral  matters,  lime,  chalk,  potash,  etc.,  are  not  pre- 
cipitated mechanically,  but  deposited  in  the  sub-soil  un- 
less the  water  be  saturated,  which  is  too  often  the  case 
in  the  alkali  lands,  but  which  is  more  or  less  obviated 
by  combining  this  system  of  drainage  with  irrigation. 
At  all  events  it  reduces  the  quantity  of  the  deposit 
of  deleterious  mineral  salts  to  a  minimum.  In 
addition  to  that  desideratum  it  is  possible  to 
wash  the  alkali  out  of  the  soil  by  permitting  the 
saturated  water  to  drain  off  and  carry  with  it 
jhe  alkali  in  the  sub-soil  or  near  the  surface,  top 
cashing  of  course  carrying  the  surface  alkali  down 
within  reach  of  the  drains.  It  is  like  cleansing  a 
sponge  of  its  impurities.  Dip  an  impure  sponge  in  a 
basin  of  pure  water  and  squeeze.  The  water  becomes 
impregnated  with  the  impurities  of  the  sponge.  Throw 
away  that  water  and  fill  the  basin  with  clear  water  and 
dip  in  it  the  sponge  and  squeeze  as  before.  By  and  by 
the  water  running  from  the  sponge  is  clear,  showing 
that  the  latter  contains  no  more  impurities. 

If  it  be  true,  as  the  majority  of  the  scientists  main- 
tain, that  the  use  of  irrigating  water  is  all  the  more 
beneficial  when  vegetation  is  most  flourishing  and 
luxuriant,  and  that  the  nutritive  elements  in  the  soil 


182  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

are  directly  absorbed  by  the  roots,  it  is  apparent  that 
the  oxydizing  and  purifying  action  of  drainage  com- 
bined with  irrigation  must  be  the  means  of  supplying 
vegetation  with  the  necessary  plant  food,  either  through 
the  infiltration  of  the  water  into  the  region  of  the  roots 
or  by  intermittent  flowing  over  the  surface  from  the 
vent  wells. 

The  system  is  quite  simple,  expense  alone  being 
probably  the  only  disadvantage,  but  even  then,  if  the 
land  must  be  drained,  the  laying  of  tiles,  if  with  a  view 
of  also  irrigating,  will  divide  the  expense. 

By  an  arrangement  of  valves  or  plugs  managed 
from  the  vertical  vent  wells,  the  pipes  are  closed  at  the 
point  where  irrigation  is  desired.  Then,  the  water 
flowing  through  the  drains  is  stopped  at  the  closed  valve, 
escapes  through  the  loose  joints  of  the  tiles,  and  if  per- 
mitted, will  make  its  way  to  the  surface.  When  one  sec- 
tion has  been  sufficiently  irrigated  in  this  manner,  the 
valve  is  opened,  and  another  one  further  down  is  closed, 
and  the  soil  in  that  section  irrigated  in  the  same  man- 
ner. To  drain  without  irrigating,  all  the  underground 
valves  are  opened  and  the  water  flows  through  the 
secondary  drains  into  the  main,  or  transverse  collecting 
drain,  to  be  carried  off  entirely  or  into  a  reservoir  for 
further  use  unless  too  alkaline. 

To  wash  the  soil,  repeat  the  process  of  irrigation 
and  drainage  several  times  successively  until  tests  show 
a  weak  solution. 

This  system  of  irrigation  and  drainage  may  be 
adapted  to  any  condition  of  soil,  or  to  any  topography. 
Indeed,  the  principle  of  the  siphon  may  be  connected 
with  it.  Regard,  of  course,  must  be  had  to  the  nature 
of  the  plants  to  be  irrigated  when  it  comes  to  regulating 
the  depth  at  which  the  tiles  are  to  be  placed,  or  the 
height  to  which  the  water  is  to  be  permitted  to  ascend 
in  the  soil.  Where  the  land  is  flat  the  tiles  may  be  laid 
on  a  light  grade,  the  source  of  the  water  supply  above 


Sub-Irrigation-^Drainage.  183 

the  tiles  regulating  the  velocity  of  the  current  of  water 
and  the  height  to  which  it  can  be  raised  in  the  soil.  In 
such  cases,  a  fifty  or  a  hundred-acre  tract  may  be  sub- 
irrigated  by  infiltration  until  it  is  in  a  fit  condition  to 
cultivate  for  any  crop  without  any  flowing  over  the 
surface.  In  sloping  land  the  pipes  should  be  laid  paral- 
lel with  the  slope  to  insure  uniformity  of  distribution, 
at,  say,  four  feet  below  the  surface  for  ordinary  culture, 
with  transverse  collecting  pipes  at  intervals,  so  as  to  lay 
out  the  land  in  sections,  each  one  of  which  may  be 
irrigated  in  turn.  Practically,  the  system  means  the 
creation  of  an  artificial  water  table  managed  at  will. 

A  query  arises  here :  Will  not  the  water  rising  in 
an  upper  section  of  land  through  the  drain  pipes  also 
descend  to  the  section  below  at  the  same  time  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  law  of  gravity? 

The  answer  is  that  water  as  such  certainly  will 
descend  and  much  faster  than  it  rises.  But  moisture 
will  not.  In  irrigating  the  upper  section  of  a  tract  of 
land  through  drain  pipes,  the  water  is  under  pressure 
which  overcomes  gravity.  Again,  the  soil  will  absorb  the 
water  as  fast  as  it  rises  and  not  until  it  is  saturated 
will  it  give  any  of  it  up,  and  then  the  surplus  will  be- 
gin to  flow  downward,  but  when  that  moment  arrives  the 
irrigator  opens  the  valve  and  removes  the  pressure,  suf- 
fers the  saturated  land  to  drain  off  and  moisture  alone 
is  left,  which,  as  has  been  said,  does  not  drain  down- 
ward, but  ascends  toward  the  surface  in  obedience  to 
the  law  of  capillary  attraction. 

SURFACE,    SUB-IRRIGATION    AND     DRAINAGE     COMBINED. 

It  is  possible  to  combine  surface,  sub-irrigation  and 
drainage  by  the  same  system  of  underground  conduits 
or  tiles,  and  for  that  reason  drainage  should  always  be 
arranged  with  a  view  of  making  a  treble  use  of  it. 

The  line  of  irrigation  is  always  along  the  line  of 
drainage,  which  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  drainage 


184  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

is  nothing  more  than  disposing  of  the  excess  water  that 
flows  through  the  soil.  There  is  no  other  way  for  it  to 
reach  the  drain  tiles  except  through  the  soil,  and  this  is 
true  whether  the  soil  is  arid  or  a  swamp.  The  flow  of 
irrigation  water  is  necessarily  in  the  same  direction  as 
the  drainage  water,  and  hence  it  is  economy  to  com- 
bine them. 

If  the  water  source  is  high  enough  above  the  field 
to  be  irrigated  or  drained,  a  sufficiently  large  reservoir 
or  retaining  ditch  should  be  provided.  From  this,  what 
may  be  called  the  "velocity  water,"  is  to  be  supplied. 
That  is,  the  water  naturally  flowing  downward  toward 
the  drain  pipes  can  not  rise  to  the  surface  except  by 
seepage  or  infiltration,  and  then  only  when  the  lower 
drain  courses  are  closed  at  their  intersection  with  the 
transverse  collecting  drain.  But  water  let  in  from  an 
elevated  source,  unites  with  the  drainage  water  and 
forces  it  to  the  surface  or  to  any  desired  height,  even 
above  the  surface  if  necessary  or  required. 

Now,  by  closing  the  exits  of  the  drain  tiles  at  any 
point,  the  water  may  be  forced  up  through  the  vertical 
vent  wells  or  tubes  and  allowed  to  flow  into  distributing 
ditches  through  which  any  part  of  the  land  may  be 
surface  irrigated,  and  a  double  use  of  the  drainage  sys- 
tem be  effected.  It  is  a  convenient  and  profitable  mode 
of  irrigating  small,  shallow  rooted  plants,  strawberries, 
for  instance,  and  the  tubers  like  potatoes  that  will  not 
stand  water  soaking.  Likewise  it  is  adapted  to  the 
kitchen  garden  and  floriculture. 

It  is  an  admirable  system  for  what  is  termed 
"winter  irrigation,"  where  the  water  supply  is  more 
abundant  in  the  winter  months  than  in  the  dry  sea- 
son. Sub-irrigation  is  practiced  to  fill  the  soil  with 
moisture,  and  then  by  storing  the  water,  surface  irriga- 
tion becomes  practicable  when  planting  time  arrives, 
and  when  plants  show  their  first  true  leaves.  By  that 
time  their  roots  are  in  moist  soil  and  they  grow  to  ma- 


Sub-Irrigation — Drainage.  185 

turity  with  very  little  after  irrigation  unless  shallow 
rooted. 

There  are  three  classes  or  conditions  of  atmos- 
phere or  meteorological  conditions  existing  in  the  great 
west,  however,  which  should  be  understood  whenever 
mention  is  made  of  "winter." 

In  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions  of  the  south  and 
southwest,  and  on  the  Pacific  slope  where  the  Kuro 
Siwa  or  Japanese  ocean  current  creates  a  perpetual 
spring  climate,  what  is  known  as  winter  is  the  growing 
period  for  cereals  and  garden  products.  In  these  lo- 
calities the  seasons  are  commonly  divided  into  "wet 
season"  and  "dry  season/'  winter  as  it  is  known  else- 
where being  unknown.  If  there  be  any  rainfall  at  all, 
it  usually  begins  in  October  or  November  and  ends  in 
April.  Sometimes  the  rainfall  for  the  season  ranges 
from  four  inches  to  ten,  sometimes  reaching  fourteen 
inches,  the  latter  quantity  being  sufficient  to  raise  a  fair 
crop  of  grain  without  irrigation,  but  in  the  case  of 
corn  and  vegetables  constant  cultivation  is  required. 

In  these  regions  winter  irrigation  is  beneficial  for 
deciduous  plants,  which  overcome  their  winter  sleep 
and  spring  into  life  in  March  or  April,  small  fruits, 
orchards  and  the  like,  for  it  fills  the  soil  with  moisture 
at  a  greater  depth  than  the  rainfall  can  reach,  and  when 
a  trifle  of  surface  irrigation  is  added,  they  grow  and 
produce  profitably, 

In  the  absolutely  arid  regions  where  there  is  an 
absence  of  rain,  or  less  than  five  inches,  frequently  as- 
suming the  form  of  what  is  known  as  a  "Scotch  mist," 
nothing  can  be  grown  in  the  way  of  profitable  plants 
without  irrigation  of  some  kind.  Now,  if  the  sub-soil 
can  be  charged  with  moisture  it  will  be  retained  for  a 
long  period  if  the  surface  soil  be  kept  open  and  highly 
pulverized  to  serve  as  a  mulch,  and  with  a  little  irriga- 
tion it  will  perform  wonders  of  plant  growth.  More- 
over, by  constant  infiltration,  an  artificial  water  table 


186  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

will  finally  be  created  which  will  become  perpetual  with 
periodical  additions.  In  irrigation  there  is  always  more 
water  put  into  the  soil  than  is  necessary  for  plant 
growth,  and  the  excess  water,  allowing  for  evapora- 
tion, must  flow  down  into  the  subterranean  receptacles. 
If  there  be  a  sloping  field  above,  then  it  will  perform  the 
duty  of  a  storage  reservoir  for  the  lower  one,  and  the 
escaping  water  may  be  caught  and  utilized  as  has  been 
already  described. 

The  second  climatic  condition  to  be  observed  is 
where  the  region  is  cold  and  frosty  in  winter,  but  with- 
out much  snow  -  or  other  precipitated  moisture.  Here, 
winter  sub-irrigation  prepares  the  soil  for  spring  culti- 
vation, and  sufficient  water  is  retained  for  surface  irri- 
gation when  needed  to  enable  plants  to  start.  Colorado 
and  western  Kansas,  with  portions  of  western  Nebraska 
and  eastern  Wyoming,  are  illustrations. 

The  third  condition  is  where  the  snows  of  winter 
are  very  heavy,  equal  to  the  rainfall  in  humid  regions, 
but  the  summers  are  dry.  Northern  Utah,  Montana, 
Idaho,  Nevada  and  the  Dakotas  may  be  placed  in  this 
category.  In  such  regions,  winter  irrigation  and  drain- 
age go  together  naturally.  The  soil  is  aerated,  main- 
tained in  a  friable,  tillable  condition,  and  almost  as  soon 
as  spring  opens  plowing  and  planting  may  begin.  The 
soil  is  charged  with  water  which,  if  excessive,  must  be 
drained  off,  and  if  insufficient,  the  drainage  pipes  are 
closed  and  a  uniform  saturation  induced. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

SUPPLEMENTAL  IRRIGATION. 

When  the  subject  of  irrigation  is  broached  one 
immediately  thinks  of  an  arid  region  or  one  in  which 
the  ordinary  rainfall  is  inadequate  to  raise  a  crop  to 
maturity  or  to  raise  one  sufficiently  profitable.  In  such 
regions  irrigation  is  practiced  all  the  time,  from  the 
planting  of  the  seed  to  the  maturity  of  the  plant,  and 
even  afterward  it  is  necessary  to  again  irrigate  for  the 
purpose  of  fitting  the  soil  for  cultivation  for  the  plant- 
ing of  another  crop.  The  rainfall  is  totally  disregarded. 
Irrigation  is  a  necessity. 

But  in  the  humid  regions  where  there  is  an  ade- 
quate rainfall,  or  at  least  from  thirty  to  forty  inches 
of  rain  precipitated  upon  the  soil  during  the  year,  irri- 
gation has  until  quite  recently  in  this  country  been 
looked  upon  very  much  in  the  light  of  an  unnecessary 
luxury,  a  refinement  of  agriculture  suitable  for  gentle- 
man farming  and  not  to  be  encouraged  when  it  comes 
to  general  farming.  The  idea  of  irrigating  in  the 
humid  regions  is  growing  stronger,  however,  and  it 
will  not  be  long  before  irrigation  will  be  as  common  in 
Massachusetts  and  New  York  as  in  Arizona.  Indeed, 
it  must  come  to  that  or  the  humid  States  will  be  com- 
pelled to  go  entirely  out  of  the  business  of  crop  rais- 
ing, for  the  productions  of  the  soil  in  the  irrigated 
regions  are  so  enormous  that  the  humid  or  rain  farmer 
will  not  be  able  to  compete.  This  irrigating  in  the 
humid  regions  where  there  is  an  abundant  annual  rain- 
fall is  what  is  termed  "supplemental  irrigation,"  in- 
asmuch as  it  supplements  the  rainfall  or  makes  good  its 
deficiencies  and  uneven  distribution  during  the  periods 
of  the  year  of  the  growing  season. 

Supplemental  irrigation,   though  quite  recent  in 

187 


188  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

the  United  States  and  even  now  looked  upon  with  dis- 
favor, has  been  practiced  in  Europe  for  centuries 
where  the  rainfall  is  sufficient  to  raise  crops  without 
irrigation,  as  in  our  humid  regions.  Germany,  France, 
Italy  and  the  British  Isles  have  practiced  it  with  profit 
and  success,  and  to  fail  to  irrigate  is  to  be  guilty  of 
bad  husbandry  and  careless  of  profits. 

To  state  the  proposition  of  supplemental  irrigation 
broadly,  it  removes  the  element  of  chance  in  all  fann- 
ing that  depends  solely  upon  the  water  precipitated 
from  the  clouds  naturally.  No  farmer  guesses  at  his 
seed,  but  selects  the  best  variety  with  the  greatest  care, 
even  experimenting  with  a  small  quantity  before  trust- 
ing his  entire  harvest  to  the  probability  of  failure.  So 
also  does  he  choose  his  implements,  his  stock,  and  he 
prepares  his  soil  in  the  most  approved  and  certain 
manner,  but  when  he  considers  the  probabilities  of  the 
element  favoring  him  with  bountiful  returns  he  shuts 
his  eyes  and  draws  for  trumps  when  he  might  have  the 
winning  cards  in  his  own  hands  by  the  exercise  of  his 
common  sense. 

There  are  times  when  the  skies  are  as  brass  and 
the  earth  like  a  burning  furnace,  then  his  hopes  are 
blasted  and  he  grieves.  There  are  also  times  when  the 
rain  comes  just  right  and  the  earth  laughs  with  a  har- 
vest. Then  the  farmer  rejoices  and  says:  "We  have 
had  a  good  crop."  But  if  he  will  stop  to  consider  and 
look  back  a  few  years,  go  over  his  ledger  of  balances, 
he  will  discover  that  in  the  space  of  five  years,  for  in- 
stance, he  has  had  three  bad  crops  and  only  two  good 
ones.  Why  ?  The  only  answer  is :  There  was  not  rain 
enough  to  mature  the  crops;  there  were  several  dry 
spells  right  in  the  growing  season  when  the  plants 
were  seriously  injured  and  no  amount  of  after  rainfall 
— nay,  a  deluge — could  restore  them  their  lost  vitality. 

It  is  not  the  desire  of  the  author  to  argue  in  favor 
of  supplementary  irrigation  in  the  humid  regions,  for 


Supplemental  Irrigation.  189 

that  is  bound  to  come  to  the  wise  farmers,  but  there 
are  many  who  may  not  yet  be  assured  of  the  neces- 
sity of  it,  or  to  whom  the  knowledge  of  it  has  not  yet 
come,  and  to  whom  he  will  only  say :  How  much  better 
it  would  be  if  a  farmer  could  plant  with  the  certainty 
that  every  crop  would  be  uniformly  abundant,  and 
that,  too  year  after  year  without  a  single  break. 

He  ,an  accomplish  this  by  simply  utilizing  the 
surplus  water  which  he  watches  go  to  waste  without 
raising  a  hand  to  stop  it  or  to  store  it  up  against  the 
time  of  dire  need.  It  rains,  says  the  rain  farmer,  there- 
fore why  pour  more  water  on  the  soil  ?  True,  but  there 
is  a  story  to  tell  which  will  illustrate  that  sort  of  argu- 
ment better  than  pages  of  theory.  It  is  an  old  one  to 
the  middle-aged,  perhaps  threadbare,  but  new  in  this 
connection,  for  which  reason  it  will  bear  repeating. 
This  is  the  story,  or,  rather,  anecdote: 

A  stranger  once  traveling  through  Arkansas  one 
fine  day  came  across  a  rain  farmer  sitting  in  the 
sunshine  at  the  door  of  his  cabin  fiddling  away  for  dear 
life  on  a  cracked  fiddle.  Dismounting,  the  traveler 
passed  the  compliments  of  the  season  and  looked 
around  to  take  in  the  situation.  It  happened  that  a 
large  hole  in  the  roof  of  the  cabin  caught  his  eye. 

'  vHiy  do  you  not  mend  the  hole  in  your  roof?" 
inquired  the  stranger. 

:'Tain't  wuth  while,  stranger;  'tain't  a-rainin'." 

"Well,  when  it  rains  you  will  have  to  mend  it/' 
said  the  stranger,  sarcastically. 

f T)unno  about  thet,  mister ;  it  mought  be  too  wet  to 
fix  when  it  are  a-rainin'." 

It  seems  strange  to  unaccustomed  eyes  to  see  an 
irrigation  farmer  of  the  far  west  pouring  water  on  his 
soil  with  the  rain  falling  in  torrents. 

A  Host-Oman  who  was  passing  through  the  Sacra- 
mento valley  in  California  in  a  comfortable  Pullman 
car  during  a  heavy  rain  noticed  a  farmer  busily  en- 


100  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

gaged  in  irrigating  his  land  without  noticing  the  down- 
pour. 

"Just  look  at  that  fool  watering  his  land  when  it 
is  raining  so  hard." 

"He's  no  fool,"  said  his  companion,  who  happened 
to  know  something  about  irrigation,  "but  a  wise  man. 
He  knows  that  the  effects  of  the  rain  will  last  ahout 
three  days,  hut  that  the  irrigation  water  is  good  for 
two  weeks." 

IRRIGATING  IN  A  HUMID  REGION. 

The  experience  of  Dr.  Clarke  Gapen,  at  one  time 
superintendent  of  the  Illinois  Eastern  Hospital  for  the 
Insane,  may  do  much  toward  clearing  away  any  doubts 
the  reader  may  entertain  as  to  the  wisdom  of  irrigating 
in  a  humid  region.  Says  the  doctor: 

"For  two  years  the  garden  crops  on  about  ninety 
acres  of  land  were  almost  a  total  failure,  the  loss  not 
only  depriving  the  inmates  of  the  institution  of  fresh 
vegetables,  but  it  was  a  financial  loss.  In  the  spring 
of  the  third  year  I  suggested  to  the  Board  of  Trustees 
the  extension  of  our  water  mains  into  the  garden  and 
into  certain  lands  which  it  was  proposed  to  use  for 
garden  purposes,  consisting  of  about  150  acres.  This 
was  agreed  to,  and  we  proceeded  to  lay  about  4,000  feet 
of  water  mains  out  into  the  farm.  As  there  was  some 
delay  in  completing  the  work,  our  irrigation  was  not 
begun  until  some  time  in  June.  We  had  in  the  mean- 
time, however,  planted  a  portion  of  the  land  in  fruit 
trees  and  berries,  and  the  remainder  was  planted  in 
vegetables.  As  soon  as  the  pipe  laying  was  completed 
the  water  was  turned  on  and  irrigation  of  the  entire 
tract  begun. 

"The  following  results  show  the  profit  of  the  un- 
dertaking : 

Beets,  4  acres,  1,960  bu.  at  30c $    588.00 

Cabbage,  15  acres,  1,498  bbls.  at  $1 1,498.00 


Supplemental  Irrigation.  191 

Cauliflower,  3  acres,  81  bbls.  at  $1.50 121.00 

Cucumber,  %  acre,  184  bu.  at  60c 110.00 

Lettuce,  %  acre,  101  bbls.  at  $1 101.00 

Water  and  musk  melons,  7  acres,  16,000  at  3c  148.00 

Onions,  3  acres,  245  bbls.  at  75c 183.75 

Peas,  5  acres,  250  bu.  at  $1.25 -  323.75 

Kadishes,  3  acres,  304  bbls.  at  $2 608.00 

Tomatoes,  6  acres,  1,360  bu.  at  30c 408.00 

Turnips,  15  acres,  3,000  bu.  at  30c 910.50 

Potatoes,  25  acres,  3,000  bu.  at  30c 900.00 

Greens,  2  1-3  acres,  500  bu.  at  25c 125.00 

Khubarb,  %  acre,  261  bbls.  at  50c 130.00 

Total  for  90y2  acres  $6,478.40 

Total  for  1  acre  73.57 

"While  it  is  conceded  that  this  does  not  show  an 
excessively  large  yield,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
is  far  greater  than  the  average  yield  in  the  regions 
round  about  during  the  same  season,  and  that  irriga- 
tion was  begun  very  late  in  the  season.  Moreover,  the 
ground  was  newly  broken  and  had  never  before  been 
used  for  vegetables. 

"The  cost  of  laying  the  pipe  was  about  $1,500,  or, 
say,  $10  per  acre.  The  land  before  the  pipes  were 
laid  would  have  been  regarded  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses as  at  a  high  price  at  $100  per  acre ;  it  now  has  a 
producing  value  to  the  institution  of  $500  per  acre. 

TWO  METHODS  OP  APPLYING   WATER. 

"In  applying  the  water  at  the  hospital  we  used 
only  two  methods — the  ditch  and  the  flowing.  In  both 
cases  the  water  was  conveyed  in  large  ditches  meander- 
ing in  conformity  with  the  contour  of  the  ground, 
running  often  by  very  circuitous  routes  to  the  desired 
points.  There  it  was  diverted  into  furrows  made  by 
what  is  called  'middle  breakers/  or  double  mold  board 
plow  between  the  rows  of  corn,  potatoes,  cabbage  or 


1«2  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

whatever  the  plant;  or  by  the  flooding  method  it  was 
spread  out  over  a  leveled  space  ten  to  fifteen  feet  in 
width,  with  ridges  six  to  eight  inches  high,  thrown  up 
to  separate  these  spaces  from  each  other,  and  occasional 
cross-ridges  if  the  slope  of  the  ground  was  steep.  We 
kept  the  slope  of  the  land  constantly  in  mind  and  we 
found  it  always  best  to  always  begin  at  the  lowest  point 
and  work  up  or  backward.  In  irrigating  the  orchard 
we  ran  a  furrow  on  each  side  of  each  row  of  trees  and 
allowed  the  water  to  run  slowly  throughout  its  length. 
For  orchard  purposes  we  find  two  irrigations  sufficient, 
one  early  in  the  spring  and  the  other  just  as  the  fruit 
begins  to  ripen.  As  the  trees  grow  the  irrigating  fur- 
row is  run  farther  and  farther  away  from  the  trees." 

Dr.  Gapen  is  of  the  opinion  that  irrigation  has  a 
much  larger  future  in  those  portions  of  the  country 
where  the  rainfall  is  reasonably  large  than  even  in  the 
dry  regions,  because  there  is  a  larger  supply  of  water 
which  can  be  utilized  and,  of  course,  can  be  utilized 
to  a  greater  extent.  Long  continued  experiments  in 
the  direction  of  supplemental  irrigation  have  indeed 
demonstrated  beyond  any  doubt  that  crops  may  be 
doubled  and  quadrupled.  The  irrigation  system 
adopted  at  the  institution  of  which  Dr.  Gapen  is  super- 
intendent required  from  100,000  to  200,000  gallons  of 
water  per  acre  during  the  growing  season.  He  esti- 
mated that  at  least  two  inches  of  rainfal  were  neces- 
sary for  even  a  light  irrigation,  approximately  55,000 
gallons,  being  at  the  rate  of  27,154  gallons  of  water  for 
one  inch  of  rain,  and  that  to  give  two  good  wettings 
to  the  soil  at  least  220,000  gallons,  or  about  eight 
inches,  should  be  given  each  acre.  This  was  modified 
to  about  100,000  gallons  per  acre  for  each  wetting. 
More  water,  however,  could  be  used  to  advantage,  for 
the  reason  that  in  humid  regions  a  70  per  cent  satura^ 
tion  by  bulk  will  give  the  best  results. 

As  to  the  expense  of  the  supplemental  irrigation  at 


Supplemental  Irrigation.  193 

the  Illinois  institution,  above  referred  to,  it  cost  $3.00 
per  1,000,000  gallons  to  deliver  the  water  at  the  point 
required.  At  this  rate  the  cost  of  delivering  100,000 
gallons,  the  amount  necessary  to  irrigate  one  acre, 
was  only  60  cents  per  acre  for  two  good  wettings.  This 
expense  was  much  greater  than  that  incurred  by  ordi- 
nary pumping  or  lifting,  for  the  reason  that  there  was 
maintained  a  pressure  of  fifty  pounds,  which  required 
high  pressure  pumps.  The  piping  was  the  best  grade 
of  cast  iron  pipe,  laid  entirely  below  the  frost  line, 
using  three,  four  and  six-inch  pipe,  which  cost  from 
20  to  30  cents  per  foot. 

With  a  farm  located  on  the  bank  of  a  stream,  or 
with  an  inexhaustible  well,  it  is  not  difficult  to  under- 
stand that  the  expense  would  be  much  less.  The  fact 
remains,  however,  that  with  the  most  expensive  appli- 
ances supplemental  irrigation  is  productive  of  double 
profits,  and  therefore  it  is  a  system  not  to  be  rejected 
without  at  least  a  trial  of  its  merits. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

QUANTITY   OF    WATER   TO   RAISE   CROPS. 
(The  Duty  of  Water.) 

The  amount  of  transpiration  through  the  leaves  of 
plants  will  furnish  an  approximation  of  the  quantity 
of  water  needed  by  them  before  they  can  attain  perfect 
maturity.  That  amount  of  water  in  the  shape  of 
moisture  they  must  have,  and  if  they  can  not  obtain  it 
by  natural  means,  through  rainfall,  ground  water, 
capillary  action,  dew,  or  moisture  from  the  atmosphere, 
it  must  be  supplied  by  artificial  means  through  irriga- 
tion, else,  the  farmer  may  as  well  retire  from  business, 
unless  he  admires  a  useless  expenditure  of  labor  year 
after  year. 

It  is'  alleged  by  men  of  the  highest  scientific  stand- 
ing, men  who  have  made  irrigation  agriculture  a  pro- 
found study,  and  have  performed  a  multitude  of  practi- 
cal experiments  to  demonstrate  the  verity  of  their  propo- 
sition that  about  forty  inches  of  water  whether  rainfall, 
or  evenly  distributed  artificially,  is  the  proper  and 
essential  quantity  to  successfully  grow  a  crop  from  the 
planting  to  the  harvest.  Some  claim  that  a  lesser 
quantity  will  be  sufficient.  Thus,  Professor  King  found 
that  he  could  use  34  inches  for  the  growing  season  in 
Wisconsin.  In  California  from  7^  to  20  inches  will 
answer  the  purpose;  in  Colorado,  22  inches;  in  India 
48  inches  are  necessary,  and  50  inches  in  France  and 
Italy.  All  these  calculations  are  based  upon  the 
quantity  required  per  acre  during  the  growing  period 
of  a  crop,  which  is  estimated  at  about  80  or  90  days. 

It  is  well  for  the  reader  to  grasp  the  immensity  of 
such  volumes  of  water,  and  to  enable  him  to  do  so,  a 
few  mathematical  facts  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

184 


Quantity  of  Water  to  Raise  Crops.  105 

One  inch,  of  water  covering  an  acre  of  ground, 
equals  27,154  gallons,  or  1,086,160  gallons  per  acre  for 
the  season  upon  the  basis  of  a  supposed  total  of  forty 
inches.  The  weight  of  this  amount  of  water  at  8  1-3 
pounds  standard  U.  S.  weig;ht  to  the  gallon,  is 
nearly  4,526  tons.  Weight  will  be  used  instead  of 
measure  in  order  to  make  comparisons. 

Let  us  take  potatoes  as  an  illustration,  and  on  them 
base  a  simple  calculation.  According  to  the  laws  of 
most  of  the  States,  a  bushel  of  potatoes  weighs  sixty 
pounds  avoirdupois.  At  the  rate  of  three  hundred 
bushels  per  acre,  which  is  a  very  large  yield  to  the 
acre,  the  weight  will  reach  18,000  pounds,  or  nine  tons. 

In  the  case  of  sugar  beets,  the  production  runs  all 
the  way  from  fifteen  to  thirty-five  tons  per  acre. 

Now,  it  has  been  calculated  that  potatoes  and  beets 
contain  from  80  to  90  per  cent  of  their  weight  in 
water,  or  its  equivalent,  and  at  90  per  cent,  to  give 
them  the  benefit  of  the  largest  possible  quantity  of 
fluidity,  an  acre  of  potatoes  would  contain  about  8% 
tons  of  water,  and  an  acre  of  beets  about  32  tons. 

It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  this  small  quantity 
of  vegetable  extract  required  the  distillation  in  the 
plant  of  4,526  tons  of  water  in  ninety  days,  and  the  fact 
is  that  it  does  not.  In  a  former  chapter  it  is  said  that 
moisture,  or  water  in  the  shape  of  moisture,  is  taken 
into  the  plant  by  way  of  the  roots,  and  after  being 
utilized  in  the  economy  of  the  plant,  it  is  discharged 
through  the  medium  of  the  leaves ;  that  is  to  say,  trans- 
pired through  the  stomata  or  mouths  of  the  leaves. 
Indeed,  there  is  no  other  way  by  which  water  can  enter 
into  the  plant.  It  is  a  solvent  for  plant  food,  and  the 
plant  having  absorbed  the  food,  rejects  the  water  by 
transpiration. 

The  reader  will  find  in  Chapter  V  an  experiment 
made  by  Professor  Williams  of  Vermont  with  an  acre  of 


196  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

forest  containing  640  trees  averaging  8%  inches  in 
diameter  and  30  feet  in  height,  having  an  average 
of  21,192  leaves  on  each  tree  to  transpire  water  during 
ninety-two  days. 

It  was  discovered  by  careful  experiment  that  such 
an  acreage  of  trees  drew  from  the  soil  and  evaporated, 
or  transpired  by  way  of  the  tree  leaves,  2,852,000  pounds 
of  water  during  ninety-two  days,  or  1,426  tons,  the 
evaporation  or  transpiration  being  calculated  as  going 
on  twelve  hours  per  day,  inasmuch  as  it  is  almost  im- 
perceptible at  night.  This  leaves  a  very  large  balance 
of  the  4,526  tons  unconsumed  by  the  trees,  and  even 
assuming  that  the  leaves  transpired  water  during  twen- 
ty-four hours  there  would  still  be  1,674  tons  to  the  good 
unutilized  by  vegetation. 

Carrying  the  calculation  still  further,  let  it  be 
assumed  that  the  evaporation  from  the  soil  was  1,000 
pounds  per  hour  and  that  such  evaporation  occurred 
every  hour  of  the  twenty-four,  and  there  would  be  still 
remaining  unutilized  for  any  known  purpose  570  tons 
of  water.  There  would  remain  a  much  larger  quantity, 
for  the  estimate  of  evaporation  could  not  exist  in  a  for- 
est, and  not  under  any  circumstances  at  night.  More- 
over, evaporation  from  a  freshly  plowed  soil  does  not 
reach  1,000  pounds  per  hour,  even  without  vegetation  to 
retard  it. 

Kecurring  to  the  sunflower  experiment  (Chapter  V). 
An  acre  of  sunflowers  three  and  a  half  feet  high,  esti- 
mating 10,000  of  them  to  the  acre,  which  would  be 
crowding  them,  with  their  great  broad  leaves,  would 
transpire  during  twelve  hours  every  day  for  ninety  days 
810  tons  of  water  drawn  from  the  soil.  It  will  be  per- 
ceived that  the  4,526  tons  of  irrigating  water  or  rain- 
fall are  still  practically  intact,  and  it  may  occur  to  the 
mind  of  the  ordinary  reader  that  forty  inches  is  alto- 
gether too  much  water  to  put  on  or  into  the  soil  for 
any  profitable  or  needed  purpose.  If  not,  what  becomes 


Quantity  of  Water  to  Raise  Crops.  197 

of  it?  It  is  not  utilized  by  vegetation  of  any  sort. 
Even  sugar  cane,  which  possesses  an  insatiable  thirst, 
would  repudiate  such  gluttony. 

The  fact  is,  about  three-fourths  of  this  water  is 
wasted — fed  to  run-off,  seepage  and  drainage.  It  is 
put  into  the  soil  to  kill  the  plants  eventually  instead  of 
nourishing  and  giving  them  life. 

Government  experts  say  that  out  of  a  possible  forty 
inches  of  rainfall  50  per  cent  of  it  is  lost  in  running 
off  or  out  of  the  land,  and  25  per  cent  disappears 
through  evaporation.  If  this  is  correct,  then  there  are 
left  ten  inches  to  be  utilized  by  the  crop,  whatever  it 
may  be,  and  according  to  our  calculation  that  amount 
is  ample  for  plant  growth  from  the  planting  to  the 
harvest  if  irrigation  is  practiced  as  it  should  be. 

There  is  this  to  be  also  considered,  that  rainfall 
does  not  mean  a  precipitation  of  a  certain  number  of 
inches  of  water  during  the  growing  season  when  needed 
more  than  at  any  other  time,  whereas  irrigation  does 
mean  that  very  thing.  Taking  four  months  of  the 
year  as  the  growing  period,  that  is  to  say,  May,  June, 
July  and  August,  where  summer  is  the  seedtime  and 
harvest,  or  January,  February,  March  and  April  on 
the  Pacific  Coast  and  semi-tropical  regions,  the  mean 
monthly  precipitation  of  water  at  forty  inches  per  an- 
num would  be  one-twelfth  of  the  annual  supply,  or 
three  and  one-third  inches,  a  total  for  the  entire  grow- 
ing period  of  thirteen  and  one-third  inches. 

When  it  comes  to  crop  requirements  averages  are 
to  be  disregarded,  but  assuming  it  to  be  true  that  the 
forty  inches  of  rainfall  are  evenly  distributed  during 
the  growing  season,  as  above  specified,  then  a  crop  can 
be  grown  to  maturity  on  thirteen  and  one-third  inches ; 
indeed,  it  can  not  be  imagined  that  the  entire  annual 
rainfall  is  precipitated  upon  the  soil  during  the  four 
months  specified  unless  rice  culture  be  contemplated. 
With  thirteen  and  one-third  inches  of  water  distributed 


198  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

through  the  growing  season  the  soil  receives  1,508  tons 
of  water  per  acre,  which,  by  referring  to  the  cases  of 
the  forest  and  the  sunflowers  above  given,  will  more 
than  satisfy  the  requirements  of  those  plants;  in  fact, 
nearly  two  acres  of  sunflowers  can  be  amply  provid- 
ed for. 

Now,  what  becomes  of  the  remaining  twenty-six 
and  two-thirds  inches  of  the  assumed  forty  inches? 
The  3,018  tons  of  water  on  our  acre?  In  the  opinion 
of  the  writer  that  water  has  gone  down  to  raise  the 
ground  water  uncomfortably  close  to  the  root  zone, 
where  it  will  do  damage,  has  run  off  or  drained  off. 
It  is  certainly  wasted  unless  the  excess  is  intended  to 
irrigate  several  more  acres  further  down  some  slope,  or 
is  to  be  pumped  out  from  wells  and  used  over  again. 
In  that  case,  why  put  so  much  water  on  the  soil  if 
agriculture  be  the  object  and  not  the  water  supply 
business  ? 

It  is  not  safe,  however,  to  rely  upon  thirteen  and 
one-third  inches  of  rainfall  during  the  growing  sea- 
son. Farmers  know  to  their  cost  that  then  the  rain 
possesses  a  very  retiring  disposition,  and  the  skies  are 
brazen  for  long  periods,  long  enough,  sometimes,  to 
either  ruin  the  crops  or  to  stunt  them  and  produce  only 
a  small  percentage  of  what  was  expected  from  their 
early  start  and  growth.  In  other  words,  the  growing 
season  is  also  the  season  of  drouths,  except  in  those  re- 
gions where  winter  is  the  growing  season,  there  being 
no  frosts  to  retard  vegetation.  Yet,  strange  to  say,  even 
with  all  the  uncertainties  of  summer  moisture  good 
crops  are  sometimes  grown  and  that  on  a  small  per- 
centage of  the  annual  rainfall.  With  irrigation  sup- 
plying the  deficiency  of  rainfall  there  is  a  certainty  of 
a  good,  profitable  crop  every  year. 

What  has  been  said  thus  far  relates  to  land  which 
contains  natural  moisture  or  a  water  table,  a  supply 
of  water  which  is  brought  up  to  the  surface  by  capillary 


Quantity  of  Water  to  Raise  Crops.  199 

action  or  by  accretions  from  heavy  rains,  and  where  the 
soil  is  wet  enough  to  require  a  system  of  drainage  to 
carry  off  the  surplus.  It  is  easy  to  perceive  that  under 
such  conditions  plants  will  draw  moisture  from  below 
by  means  of  their  tap  roots  and  thus  supply  themselves 
with  plant  food  to  make  up  for  any  deficiency  of  pre- 
cipitation. Where  those  conditions  prevail,  irrigation 
becomes  supplemental  and  is  not  only  useful  but  es- 
sential in  the  humid  regions  to  overcome  the  possible 
damage  likely  to  occur  during  the  period  of  drouths. 
To  dose  the  soil  with  water  having  a  water  table  near 
enough  the  surface  for  the  tap  roots  of  plants  to  reach 
would  be  a  waste  and  of  no  benefit  to  plant  life,  as 
will  be  readily  believed  when  it  is  understood  that  too 
much  water  is  as  detrimental  to  plant  life  as  too  little. 

Where  there  is  moisture  in  the  subsoil,  and  even  a 
modicum  of  rainfall  during  the  summer  months,  the 
author  would  suggest  that  if  the  deficiency  amounts  to 
six  inches,  or  four  inches,  or  thirteen  inches,  such  de- 
ficiency be  made  good  by  an  artificial  application  of 
water  at  regular  intervals,  one  surely  just  at  the  period 
of  flowering  and  the  last  one  just  before  the  ripening 
of  the  fruit,  or  at  the  period  when  they  are  said  to  be 
"in  the  milk."  At  that  time  a  chemical  transforma- 
tion is  taking  place  in  the  economy  of  the  plant,  and 
it  must  be  supplied  with  the  material  to  continue  it, 
else  it  will  shrivel  and  die  of  old  age  before  ripen- 
ing. 

The  same  observations  may  be  adapted  to  those 
semi-arid  regions  where  the  frosts  of  winter  prevent  the 
existence  of  plant  life,  and  the  rainless  summers  de- 
mand irrigation  as  necessary  to  raise  a  crop  of  any  kind. 
There  are  fall  rains  and  winter  snows,  and  by  keeping 
the  ground  open  to  their  reception  the  moisture  can  be 
retained  for  a  long  enough  period  to  start  the  infant 
plant  well  on  its  way  in  the  spring,  but  after  the  first 
true  leaves  are  formed  irrigation  must  begin  and  con- 


200  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

tinue  during  the  growing  period,  for  there  is  no  rainfall 
to  be  depended  upon  as  an  aid  to  agriculture.  Under 
such  conditions  plants  do  not  require  any  more  moisture 
than  in  any  other  region,  and  hence  it  is  stated  as  a 
broad  proposition  that  the  same  quantity  of  moisture 
that  will  raise  a  crop  in  the  humid  regions  will  also 
raise  one  in  the  semi-arid  districts,  where  winter  is  a 
bar  to  winter  growth. 

In  what  are  designated  as  "arid  and  semi-arid"  re- 
gions, with  a  semi-tropical  .climate,  although  there  is 
very  little  rainfall,  it  is  surprising  how  far  the  small 
precipitation  will  go  toward  maturing  a  crop  without 
the  assistance  of  artificial  applications  of  water.  Five 
inches  will  raise  a  crop  planted  in  dry  ground  before  the 
rains  come,  and  by  careful  and  continual  cultivation  of 
the  ground  that  crop  will  be  profitable  enough  to  make 
it  worth  while  to  plant.  In  favorable  soil  one  inch  of 
water  will  wet  the  ground  down  about  eighteen  inches  or 
two  feet,  and  the  first  rain  penetrating  to  the  seed  that 
has  been  plowed  under  "dry"  will  cause  it  to  sprout 
within  three  or  four  days.  From  that  time  on  until  the 
crop  matures,  in  March  or  April,  if  the  rain  begins  in 
December  or  January,  the  farmer  cultivates  plants  that 
can  be  cultivated  and  harrows  his  wheat  and  barley  to 
keep  the  soil  open  as  much  as  possible.  There  may  not 
be  any  moisture  in  the  subsoil — on  the  contrary  it  may 
be  as  "dry  as  a  bone"  for  a  hundred  feet  down — but 
the  crop  grows,  and  with  few  inches  of  rain  it  reaches 
maturity.  Of  course,  it  is  not  luxuriant  vegetation, 
nor  is  the  wheat  and  barley  as  high  as  a  man's  head. 
But  it  produces  enough  for  his  stock  and  his  vegeta- 
bles, unless  sugar  beets  and  deep-rooting  plants  fur- 
nish him  with  a  good  supply.  Some  of  these  "dry 
farmers"  say  they  are  satisfied  with  eight  inches  of 
rainfall  and  consider  fourteen  inches  a  "wash  out."  In 
such  regions  the  summer  months,  from  May  to  Xo- 
vember,  and  sometimes  into  December,  the  skies  are 


Quantity  of  Water  to  Raise  Crops.  201 

cloudless  and  not  a  particle  of  rain  falls.  Then  irriga- 
tion is  an  absolute  necessity,  and  it  is  practiced  so  as 
to  continue  the  growing  season  all  the  year  round  and 
to  produce  a  succession  of  crops  without  any  cessation. 
There  is  undoubtedly  more  evaporation  from  the  soil 
than  in  the  humid  regions,  but  that  is  diminished  by 
deep  cultivation  and  pulverization  of  the  soil.  Plants, 
however,  do  not  require  any  more  moisture  than  in  any 
other  region,  and  when  the  quantity  consumed  by  the 
plant  during  its  period  of  growth  is  carefully  gauged 
that  is  the  amount  of  water  to  give  the  soil,  with 
about  25  per  cent  added  to  the  account  of  evapora- 
tion. 

After  all  is  said  the  quantity  of  water  to  be  given 
the  soil  artificially  is  governed,  in  a  great  measure,  by 
the  nature  of  the  soil.  In  Chapter  V,  "Relations  of 
Water  to  the  Soil/'  this  subject  is  treated  and  the 
reader  is  referred  to  that  chapter  for  the  facts  and 
figures.  There  is  one  axiomatic  proposition  which  is 
here  repeated  in  this  connection  because  it  is  the  key 
to  the  whole  matter :  "The  more  water  the  soil  contains 
in  its  pores  the  greater  the  evaporation."  Plants  are 
like  the  hum!an  body — gorge  it,  even  with  the  most  nour- 
ishing foods,  and  it  becomes  sick;  give  it  too  little  to 
keep  up  its  system  and  it  becomes  anaemic.  With  just 
enough,  an  equilibrium  is  maintained  and  health  is  se- 
cured as  a  matter  of  course.  This  idea  is  what  the 
author  seeks  to  convey  in  calling  attention  to  the  fact 
that  what  a  plant  needs  is  the  amount  of  provision 
to  mlake  for  it;  all  beyond  that  is  superfluous,  a  waste 
of  material,  not  productive  of  any  beneficial  results. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

MEASUREMENT   OF    WATER. 

If  we  fill  a  gallon  measure  with  water  we  know 
that  we  have  231  cubic  inches  of  water  which  weighs 
eight  and  one-third  pounds.  That  is  the  United  States 
standard.  We  also  know,  because  it  is  easy  to  measure 
it,  that  a  cubic  foot  of  water  weighs  sixty-two  and  one- 
half  pounds  and  measures  1,728  cubic  inches,  equal  to 
seven  and  one-half  gallons. 

When  it  comes  to  measure  water  for  irrigation 
purposes  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  the  exact  quantity 
measured,  owing  to  arbitrary  standards  of  what  the 
measure  should  be.  Besides  that,  the  various  States 
and  countries  are  not  agreed  upon  a  universal  stand- 
ard of  measurement,  so  that  when  one  reads  of  fifty 
inches  being  required  to  raise  a  crop,  his  measurement 
may  mean  a  much  less  number  of  inches  if  measured  ac- 
cording to  some  other  standard.  Ten  thousand  gallons 
of  water  by  accurate  measurement  may  be  run  into 
a  reservoir,  and  in  twenty-four  hours  or  less  that  num- 
ber of  gallons  will  be  materially  reduced,  but  the  loss 
can  be  accurately  estimated,  and  so  can  the  exact  quan- 
tity run  out  of  it  for  any  purpose  be  measured  almost 
to  a  drop.  But  in  the  case  of  taking  water  from  a 
running  or  flowing  stream  or  ditch,  various  difficulties 
stand  in  the  way  of  accurate  measurement. 

In  measuring  water  from  streams,  ditches  and  run- 
ning or  flowing  water,  generally  three  standards,  or 
"units  of  measure"  as  they  are  called,  have  been  agreed 
upon.  They  are  the  inch,  the  cubic  foot  per  second, 
and  the  acre-foot. 

THE   INCH. 

The  "inch"  as  a  unit  of  water  measurement  origi- 
nated with  the  placer  miners  of  the  West  and  was 

309 


Measurement  of  Water.  203 

adopted  by  irrigators  when  water  came  to  be  used  upon 
the  land  for  the  growing  of  crops.  It  is  the  volume  of 
water  which  will  flow  through  an  inch-square  open- 
ing or  orifice  with  a  certain  other  volume  of  water  over 
and  a-bove  it  td\give  it  what  is  known  as  "pressure."  Both 
the  opening  as  to  size  and  the  depth  of  water  above  it 
are  regulated  by  the  laws  of  some  of  the  States,  and  in 
many  localities  it  is  regulated  by  custom — that  is,  by 
agreement.  The  definition  given  in  the  laws  of  Colo- 
rado will  furnish  an  idea  of  what  constitutes  an  inch: 

"Waier  sold  by  the  inch  shall  be  measured  as  fol- 
lows, to-wit:  Every  inch  shall  be  considered  equal  to 
an  inch-square  orifice  under  a  five-inch  pressure,  and 
a  five-inch  pressure  shall  be  from  the  top  of  the  orifice 
of  the  box  put  into  the  banks  of  the  ditch  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  water." 

Of  course,  this  opening  may  be  larger  than  one 
inch  square;  for  instance,  six  inches,  or  twelve  inches, 
but  in  that  case  the  inch  will  become  multiplied  into 
as  many  inches  as  there  are  inches  in  the  opening.  At 
six  inches  the  volume  of  water  would  be  thirty-six 
inches,  and  at  twelve  inches  there  would  be  delivered 
144  inches  of  water.  A  simple  and  usual  way  to  meas- 
ure the  inch  and  retain  the  pressure  is  to  make  the 
opening  one  inch  wide  and  any  number  of  inches  long 
— a  slot,  so  to  speak ;  over  this  slot  is  arranged  a  sliding 
board  that  can  be  moved  back  and  forth  any  number  of 
inches  of  actual  measurement  with  a  carpenter's  rule. 
By  this  device  there  will  always  be  the  required  volume 
of  water,  or  pressure,  above  the  inch  orifice. 

Many  irrigators  roughly  measure  the  quantity  of 
water  delivered  from  a  ditch,  or  canal,  by  calculating 
the  number  of  square  inches  in  a  cross  section  of  the 
ditch  and  calling  the  result  so  many  inches  of  water, 
but  this  is  not  a  safe  rule  to  follow,  for  pressure  and 
the  velocity  of  the  stream  of  water  are  not  taken  into 


204  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

consideration,  and  they  make  a  vast  difference  some- 
times in  the  quantity  of  water  delivered.  The  orifice 
measurement  under  pressure  is  the  most  accurate  and 
gives  better  satisfaction. 

The  inch,  however,  as  a  standard  of  measurement, 
or  unit,  is  of  very  little  use  except  for  the  measure- 
ment of  small  quantities  of  water.  It  may  be  adapted 
to  the  distribution  of  water  from  small  main  ditches 
or  their  laterals. 

CUBIC   FOOT  PEE  SECOND  OR  ^SECOND-FOOT/' 

Owing  to  the  inconveniences  of  the  "inch"  as  a 
unit  of  measurement,  and  the  limitation  on  the  me- 
chanical device  for  measuring  it,  the  cubic  foot  per  sec- 
ond or  "second-foot"  has  been  adopted  as  better  adapted 
to  the  measurement  of  both  large  and  small  quantities  of 
water;  indeed,  it  is  made  the  legal  unit  in  most  of  the 
arid  States  and  Territories  in  water  contracts  and  for 
denning  the  amounts  appropriated  from  streams.  But 
although  made  the  unit  of  measurement  it  is  used  in 
connection  with  the  inch — that  is,  a  cubic  foot  per  sec- 
ond is  distributed  to  farmers  according  to  the  number 
of  inches  it  is  supposed  to  contain.  This  is  fixed  by  law 
and  the  following  table  will  show  the  variations  in  the 
number  of  inches  contained  in  a  cubic  foot  per  second : 

In  California,  Idaho,  Nevada  and  Utah  fifty  min- 
ers' inches  equal  one  cubic  foot  per  second,  measured 
under  a  four-inch  pressure  from  the  center  of  the  orifice. 

In  Arizona  and  Montana  forty  miners'  inches  equal 
one  cubic  foot  per  second,  measured  under  a  six-inch 
pressure  from  the  top  of  the  orifice. 

In  Colorado  38.4  miners'  inches  equal  one  cubic 
foot  per  second,  measured  under  a  five-inch  pressure 
from  the  top  of  the  orifice. 

A  second-foot  is  a  cubic  foot  which  passes  a-  given 
point  in  a  ditch  or  canal  in  one  second  of  time,  and  to 
measure  the  number  of  second  feet  it  is  only  necessary 


Measurement  of  Water.  205 

to  multiply  the  number  of  seconds  of  time  by  the  cubic 
feet  of  the  stream  to  ascertain  the  total  quantity  of 
water.  To  make  this  clearer,  let  the  reader  imagine 
a  small  stream  filling  a  square  conduit  or  box  one  foot 
wide  and  one  foot  deep.  This  gives  a  stream  the  face 
or  sectional  area  of  which  is  one  square  foot.  Now, 
if  the  water  runs  through  this  conduit  or  box  at  the 
speed  of  one  foot  per  second  of  time,  that  will  measure 
exactly  one  cubic  foot  per  second,  or  one  second-foot. 
If  the  water  moves  at  a  higher  speed,  as,  for  example 
five  linear  feet  per  second,  the  volume  will  be  five  cubic 
feet  per  second.  If  the  conduit  or  stream  is  five  feet 
wide  and  twenty  feet  deep,  the  area  of  its  face  is  100 
square  feet,  and  the  water  flowing  one  foot  per  second 
will  give  a  volume  of  100  cubic  feet  per  second  or  sec- 
ond-feet ;  if  it  runs  two  feet  per  second,  then  the  volume 
will  be  200  cubic  feet  per  second  of  time. 

In  measuring  the  flow  of  a  stream  it  will  be  under- 
stood from  the  foregoing  that  the  width,  depth  and 
speed  or  velocity  are  calculated.  Streams,  however, 
are  very  irregular  in  their  measurements  and  the  veloc- 
ity of  the  water  is  not  fixed.  For  instance,  the  water 
flows  more  rapidly  in  the  center  or  where  it  is  deep ; 
along  the  shore  where  it  is  shallow  the  friction  against 
the  bank  and  bottom  retard  it  quite  perceptibly.  More- 
over, the  water  flows  more  rapidly  below  the  surface 
than  at  the  surface.  In  such  case  it  is  estimated  that 
the  place  of  the  greatest  motion  is  about  one-third  of 
the  distance  beneath  the  surface,  this  being  the  locality 
where  the  water  is  least  impeded  by  friction. 

It  is  manifestly  impossible  for  one  to  stand  at  the 
delivery  point  of  the  water,  watch  in  hand,  and  calcu- 
late the  number  of  second-feet  that  flow,  hence  a  simple 
way  of  measuring  the  whole  stream  is  quite  common. 
A  line,  say  100  feet,  is  laid  off  along  the  bank  and  each 
end  of  the  line  is  marked  by  a  stake.  Then  a  light  float 
— a  chip  will  answer  the  purpose — is  cast  into  the 


206  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

stream  above  the  tipper  stake  and  the  exact  time  it 
passes  is  noted,  and  also  the  exact  time  it  passes  the 
lower  stake.  If  the  float  requires  twenty  seconds  to 
travel  between  the  two  stakes,  then  the  velocity  of  the 
water  is  assumed  to  be  five  feet  per  second.  Other 
floats  are  necessary,  for  the  stream  runs  with  unequal 
velocity,  but  the  average  speed  together  with  the  aver- 
age measurement  is  taken  as  the  basis  of  a  calculation 
and  the  number  of  second-feet  determined  from  that. 
Thus,  if  the  width  averages  twenty  feet,  the  depth  four 
feet,  the  cross  sectional  area  is  eighty  square  feet.  Then, 
if  the  rate  of  flow  is  two  feet  per  second,  we  have  a 
volume  of  160  seconds-feet. 

THE   ACRE-FOOT. 

The  preceding  water  measurements  are  restricted 
to  flowing  water  for  irrigating  purposes.  There  are 
numerous  methods  of  measuring  the  volume  of  water 
more  accurately  than  in  the  case  of  the  chip,  and  it  may 
be  said  that  by  means  of  submerged  floats,  current 
meters  with  electrical  attachments,  and  other  con- 
trivances and  calculations  based  upon  scientific  princi- 
ples, very  little  water  will  escape  the  notice  of  the  com- 
pany who  has  it  for  sale,  and  the  farmer  may  be  sure 
of  receiving  all  he  is  entitled  to  for  his  land.  By  and 
by  it  will  be  possible  for  the  irrigation  farmer  to  esti- 
mate exactly  the  quantity  of  water  required  by  his 
plants,  and  that  amount  he  will  be  able  to  give  them 
with  accuracy  and  without  any  waste  or  excess. 

It  is  becoming  the  practice  to  store  unused  water 
during  the  periods  when  there  is  an  abundant  supply — 
that  is,  to  lay  aside  in  reservoirs  enough  to  meet  any 
possible  contingency  of  drought  or  insufficient  supply 
when  most  needed.  The  standard  of  measurement  of 
water  stored  in  reservoirs,  the  unit  of  quantity,  is 
designated  as  "an  acre-foot";  that  is,  an  amount  of 
water  which  will  cover  one  acre  of  ground,  or  43,560 


Measurement  of  Water.  207 

square  feet  to  a  depth  of  one  foot.  This  will  give,  of 
course,  43,560  cubic  feet,  or  325,851  gallons.  One 
cubic  foot  per  second  flowing  constantly  for  twenty-four 
hours  equals  nearly  two  acre-feet,  and  from  this  it  is  not 
difficult  to  convert  cubic  feet  per  second  into  acre-feet 
and  estimate  the  quantity  of  water  to  be  stored  in 
reservoirs  for  the  use  and  requirements  of  crops.  The 
reservoirs  themselves  may  also  be  measured  in  the  same 
manner  as  a  tank,  but  allowance  must  be  made  for 
evaporation  and  absorption. 

To  further  explain  the  technical  units  of  measure- 
ments into  quantities,  the  following  table  is  given : 

One  second-foot  equals  450  gallons  per  minute. 

One  cubic  foot  equals  7.5  gallons. 

One  second-foot  equals  two  acre-feet  in  twenty-four 
hours  flowing  constantly. 

One  hundred  California  inches  equal  four  acre-feet 
in  twenty-four  hours. 

One  hundred  Colorado  inches  equal  five  and  one- 
sixth  acre-feet  in  twenty-four  hours. 

One  Colorado  inch  equals  17,000  gallons  in  twenty- 
four  hours. 

One  second-foot  equals  fifty-nine  and  one-half  acre- 
feet  in  thirty  days. 

Two  acre-feet  equal  one  second-foot  per  day,  or 
.0333  second-feet  in  thirty  days. 

One  million  gallons  equal  3.069  acre-feet. 

Taking  water  from  streams  and  ditches  open  to  the 
atmosphere  and  its  changes,  rapid  evaporation,  seepage 
and  absorption,  is  always  attended  with  an  enormous 
waste,  the  consequence  being  that  the  farmer  never 
knows  and  no  man  can  tell  him  whether  he  is  giving 
his  crops  the  quantity  of  water  they  absolutely  require. 
-He  can  not  tell  how  much  of  the  water  applied  to  the 
soil  is  utilized  by  the  crops,  or  is  carried  off  by  drain- 
age, seepage,  infiltration  to  some  portion  of  the  land 


208  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

where  it  is  not  needed  and  generally  lost  for  useful 
purposes.  He  knows,  however,  that  so  much  water  is 
measured  out  to  him  and  that  he  pays  for  the  amount 
that  runs  through  the  head  gate,  whether  it  is  of  any 
practical  use  to  him  or  not.  The  returns  from  his  crops 
do  not  represent  as  much  as  he  hoped,  for  the  expense 
takes  away  a  very  large  slice  of  his  profits.  His  water 
tax  may  represent  one-third  of  his  receipts,  and  though 
he  may  be  well  aware  that  he  never  received  the  water 
he  pays  for — that  is,  it  never  was  utilized  by  his  crops — 
there  is  no  way  out  of  his  embarrassment,  he  must  pay 
or  quit.  His  farm  belongs  to  him — that  is,  he  has  the 
deed  to  it — but  h6  is  paying  rent  on  it  all  the  time. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

PUMPS  AND  IRRIGATION  MACHINERY. 

In  Chapter  XII  is  given  a  calculation  of  the  amount 
of  water  precipitated  upon  the  earth's  surface  and 
carried  into  the  soil.  The  amount  is  enormous,  and 
if  not  carried  off  in  the  variety  of  ways  mentioned 
would  soon  reduce  the  surface  of  the  globe  to  an  un- 
inhabitable morass.  Moreover,  if  the  annual  precipita- 
tions were  uniform  in  all  places  there  would  not  be 
any  necessity  for  irrigation  or  anxiety  about  drouths 
and  an  insufficient  water  supply. 

We  know  it  to  be  a  fact  that  all  this  tremendous 
annual  mass  of  water  poured  from  the  clouds  upon  the 
land,  or  at  least  a  great  percentage  of  it,  is  carried  into 
the  soil,  where  it  filters  and  seeps  down  by  the  force 
of  gravity  as  far  as  it  can,  or  until  it  encounters  some 
obstruction,  and  if  it  can  not  run,  seep  or  drain  off 
back  into  surface  conveyances  it  remains  stationary, 
waiting  for  an  exit. 

The  water  from  rivers  and  streams  is  a  very  small 

Quantity  compared  with  the  quantity  beneath  the  sur- 
ace.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  "run-off"  from  rain,  snow  or 
saturations  of  the  soil  that  is  utilized  in  ditch  and 
canal  irrigation,  and  that  run-off  varies  in  amount 
from  a  flood  to  a  thread-like,  meandering  stream,  which 
is  an  aggravation  as  a  source  of  irrigation  water.  Of 
course,  there  are  exceptions  in  large  streams,  the  great 
waterways  of  the  country,  some  of  them  the  main 
arteries  of  commerce  and  apparently  inexhaustible  in 
water  supply. 

We  have  not,  however,  reached  the  full  limit  of 
land  cultivation  by  irrigation,  and  when  the  vast  re- 
gions yet  unreclaimed,  but  the  most  fertile  in  the 

809 


210  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

world,  shall  have  been  put  under  water,  or,  rather,  be 
ready  for  water,  as  a  scientist  recently  observed,  "Where 
is  that  water  to  be  got  ?"  The  fact  is  that  it  would  re- 
quire the  services  of  several  Mississippis  to  supply  the 
demand,  and  even  then  in  a  dry  season  there  would  be 
a  deficiency.  It  was  owing  to  the  fact  that  there  was 
not  surface  water  enough,  and  that  the  reclamation 
of  arid  and  semi-arid  lands  had,  apparently,  come  to 
a  standstill,  that  the  Government  has  interested  itself 
in  the  subject  of  reclamation  by  irrigation  and  turned 
its  attention  to  the  construction  of  gigantic  dams, 
reservoirs  and  the  sinking  of  wells  to  secure  an  ade- 
quate volume  of  water  for  the  purpose  of  building  an 
empire  of  fruitfulness  in  what  has  always  been  consid- 
ered an  unfertile  and  dreary  desert. 

That  there  is  an  abundance  of  water  beneath  the 
surface  of  the  earth  is  beyond  controversy.  There  is 
not  a  desert  spot  on  the  globe  which,  lurking  down 
below  its  burnt  exterior,  does  not  contain  natural  reser- 
voirs of  water  in  abundance.  Even  the  midst  of  Sa- 
hara is  beginning  to  blossom  like  a  rose  with  water 
brought  from  beneath  its  sands  with  very  little  trouble, 
and  in  our  own  country  the  great  American  desert  is 
becoming  a  vast  green  pasture  and  orchard  of  thriving 
trees  and  vines  through  a  little  scratching  of  the  sur- 
face to  obtain  the  life-giving  moisture  that  never  fails 
to  be  where  it  is  wanted. 

All  this  leads  to  the  subject  of  wells,  but  as  that 
matter  has  been  gone  over  in  a  fairly  full  manner,  and 
as  this  book  is  not  intended  to  be  scientific  or  techni- 
cal, but  a  primer  of  irrigation,  the  methods  of  digging 
wells,  their  variety  and  history  may  very  well  be  omit- 
ted and  this  chapter  limited  to  the  means  of  extracting 
the  water  from  them. 

PUMPS. 

The  only  suitably  economical  method  of  raising 
water  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  level,  as  from  a  well, 


Pumps  and  Irrigation  Machinery.  211 

is  by  means  of  a  pump.  When  pumps  were  first  in- 
vented or  used  it  is  difficult  to  say,  and,  moreover,  it 
is  of  very  little  moment  to  know  the  exact  date  or  the 
inventor's  name.  It  is  quite  certain  that  if  he  were 
able  to  return  today  and  view  the  innumerable  varie- 
ties of  them,  and  their  tremendous  capacity,  he  would 
not  be  able  to  recognize  the  principles  he  sought  to  put 
in  a  practical  form. 

SUCTION  PUMPS. 

The  ordinary  pump  is  the  suction  pump,  con- 
structed upon  the  principle  that  water  will  fill  a 
vacuum  to  the  height  of  33.9  feet  vertically  at  sea 
level.  The  piston  of  this  pump  fits  tight  in  a  smooth 
cylinder  and  has  a  small  valve  in  its  upper  end  which 
opens  upward.  The  piston  is  lowered  as  far  as  the 
piston  rod  will  permit,  the  valve  opening  to  allow  it 
to  descend  easily.  Then  the  piston  is  lifted  up  by 
means  of  a  level  to  the  full  length  of  the  piston  rod, 
the  valve  this  time  being  closed.  By  repeating  this 
up  and  down  motion  a  vacuum  is  created  in  the  cylin- 
der of  the  pump — that  is,  the  atmosphere  is  extracted — 
and  if  there  is  any  water  it  begins  to  come  up  and  can  be 
made  to  overflow  through  a  spout  placed  at  the  surface. 
Now,  water  can  not  be  "sucked"  up  in  this  manner  more 
than  33.9  feet  in  a  perfect  vacuum,  and  as  a  perfect 
vacuum,  that  is  a  reservoir  absolutely  free  from  at- 
mospheric air,  the  estimated  height  at  sea  level  to  which 
water  can  be  drawn  by  means  of  a  suction  pump  does 
not  exceed  twenty-eight  feet. 

The  altitude  above  the  sea  level  and  various  at- 
mospheric conditions  reduce  this  suction  lift  materially, 
for  instance :  1,500  feet  above  sea  level  the  suction  lift 
is  25  feet;  1,500  to  2,000  feet,  24i/2  feet;  3,000  feet,  23 
feet;  4,000  feet,  22  feet;  5,000  feet,  21  feet;  6,000  feet, 
20i/2  feet;  7,000  feet,  20  feet;  8,000  feet,  19  feet;  9,000 
feet,  18  feet;  10,000  feet,  which  is  as  high  as  pumping 


212  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

for  irrigating  water  will  probably  go,  water  can  be 
sucked  up  only  17  feet.  Some  engineers  say  that  20 
per  cent  less  would  be  a  factor  of  safety  in  putting  in 
a  pump. 

These  pumps  can  do  a  great  deal  of  work  if  kept 
constantly  at  it.  Take  a  suction,  single-acting  pump, 
that  is,  one  with  only  one  cylinder,  having  a  cylinder 
five  inches  in  diameter,  and  a  six-inch  length  of  stroke 
and  it  will  deliver  one-half  a  gallon  per  stroke.  The 
faster  the  man  who  works  the  pump  makes  the  strokes, 
the  more  water  the  pump  will  deliver.  At  ten  strokes 
per  minute,  which  may  be  called  "leisurely/'  he  would 
be  able  to  raise  300  gallons  an  hour,  and  by  doubling 
the  diameter  of  the  pipe  or  cylinder,  he  would  increase 
the  capacity  of  the  pump  four  times  and  deliver  two 
gallons  per  stroke.  By  using  horse  power  such  an  ordi-: 
nary  pump  may  be  made  to  raise  six  times  as  much 
water,  and  with  a  longer  lift,  one  of  ten  feet,  one  horse 
power,  an  ordinary  pump  is  able  to  raise  200  gallons  per 
minute,  an  amount  sufficient  to  give  an  acre  of  ground 
half  an  inch  of  water  in  ten  hours. 

WINDMILLS. 

Animal  power  is  not  commensurate  with  irrigation 
on  anything  but  a  very  small  scale,  as  for  a  small  kitchen 
garden  with  a  few  small  fruits.  Other  power  must  be 
brought  into  requisition  to  attain  profit  in  gardening 
or  general  agriculture,  where  irrigation  is  practiced. 
The  most  common  and  economical  power,  though  vari- 
able at  times,  is  the  wind.  It  is  utilized  by  means  of  a 
windmill,  which  may  very  properly  be  called  a  "wind 
engine." 

The  origin  of  windmills,  like  that  of  numerous 
other  things  of  benefit  to  mankind  is  lost  in  the  ob- 
scurity of  time.  About  the  twelfth  century  they  came 
into  practical  use  in  Holland  for  the  purpose  of  drain- 
ing and  grinding  grain.  This  mill  was  of  a  very  unique 


Pumps  and  Irrigation  Machinery.  213 

construction,  with  a  shaft  called  the  wind  shaft,  which 
carried  four  arms  or  whips  on  which  long,  rectangular 
sails  were  spread.  The  whip  carrying  the  sail  was  often 
thirty  to  eighty  feet  long,  so  that  the  tips  of  the  sails  de- 
scribed a  circle  sixty  to  eighty  feet  in  diameter.  These 
sails  came  down  close  to  the  ground,  and  every  one  who 
has  read  the  adventures  of  Don  Quixote  will  not  be  sur- 
prised that  his  encounter  with  the  windmill  on  the  sup- 
position that  it  was  a  cruel  giant  ended  disastrously. 

There  is  now  at  Lawrence,  Kan.,  the  ruins  of  what 
is  said  to  be  the  first  windmill  of  this  type  erected  in 
the  United  States.  It  was  erected  by  an  English  com- 
pany at  an  expense  of  $10,000  upon  the  Holland  plan. 
Since  that  time  the  windmill  has  become  a  thing  of 
beauty  and  power,  and  for  cheapness  it  is  within  the 
reach  of  every  farmer,  and  is  one  of  the  most  economical 
aids  to  irrigation  that  can  be  devised. 

It  is  indeed  the  simplest  appliance  for  raising  water 
known,  and  as  showing  the  capacity  of  a  first-class 
modern  windmill,  the  following  table  is  submitted  as 
founded  on  experience  and  positive  guarantee.  The 
"size"  mentioned  in  the  first  column  means  the  diam- 
eter of  the  wheel,  and  the  "lift"  expressed  at  the  top 
of  the  columns  refers  to  the  distance  of  the  piston  to  the 
point  of  delivery: 

Size  .120,106  2.75  80,070  1.84  49,742  1.14 
Feet.  10-ft.  Lift.  15-ft.Lift.  25-ft.  Lift. 

10    Sq.ft.    Acres.  Sq.ft.      Acres.  Sq.ft.    Acres. 

12     37,161          .85  24,775          .57  14,768          .34 

14     66,765         1.53  44,510         1.02  26,134  .60 

16    85,982        1.97  57,321        1.31  34,757          .79 

The  table  represents  the  number  of  square  feet  and 
acres  the  windmill  will  irrigate  one  inch  deep  per 
average  day's  work  of  ten  hours.  It  is  conceivable  that 
a  sixteen-foot  mill  will  irrigate  at  least  twenty  acres  of 
land,  and  by  running  double  time,  as  some  do,  will  store 


214  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

up  water  to  supply  deficiencies  caused  by  lack  of  wind. 
At  the  rate  of  supply  indicated,  every  acre  will  receive 
its  inch  of  water  on  alternate  five  or  ten  days,  whic^ 
during  a  growing  season  of  ninety  or  one  hundred  days, 
means  ample  to  raise  almost  any  sort  of  crop,  provided 
small  furrow  or  tight  trough  conveyances  are  used,  and 
after  cultivation  practiced. 

When  it  is  considered  that  an  inch  of  water  on  an 
acre  of  ground  means  27,154  gallons,  it  will  be  easily 
comprehended  that  such  a  windmill  working  out  of  the 
growing  or  irrigating  season  will  store  abundant  water 
in  a  storage  reservoir.  It  means  the  storage  of  at  least 
five  million  gallons  that  may  be  used  for  winter  or  fall 
irrigation  and  furnish  an  abundant  supply  for  stock 
and  household  purposes. 

As  to  the  cost  of  such  an  irrigating  outfit,  exclusive 
of  the  cost  of  the  well  and  reservoir,  the  following  are 
the  ruling  prices  complete,  ready  to  put  up  and  begin 
pumping : 

Ten-foot  mill,  $62;  twelve-foot,  $97;  fourteen-foot. 
$133 ;  sixteen-foot,  $195. 

Of  course,  the  purchaser  must  first  find  the  water 
with  which  to  irrigate,  and  plenty  of  it.  He  should 
avoid  doing  as  did  a  friend  of  the  author,  who  dug  a 
well  108  feet  deep,  with  about  six  feet  of  water  at  the 
bottom.  After  putting  up  a  twenty-four  foot  mill,  he 
began  making  preparations  to  flood  forty  acres  of 
ground.  In  less  than  two  hours  his  pump  ran  dry. 
and  on  investigating  he  found  that  the  well  was  dry 
and  it  took  eight  hours  for  it  to  fill  up  again. 

RESERVOIR. 

The  reservoir  should  be  located  on  the  highest  point 
of  land  it  is  desired  to  irrigate,  with  the  bottom  of  the 
reservoir  above  it  if  possible.  Then  plow  deep  around 
the  line  to  avoid  earth  seams  under  the  embankment. 


and  Irrigation  Machinery.  211 

The  interior  should  be  plowed  and  scraped  toward  the 
line  of  the  embankment  and  harrowed  until  the  earth 
becomes  finely  pulverized.  This  bottom  should  then  be 
carefully  and  thoroughly  puddled.  If  hard  pan  or  clay 
can  be  found,  then  dig  down  to  it  and  establish  the  bot- 
tom of  the  reservoir  on  it  as  a  sure  foundation  for  a 
water-tight  receptacle. 

The  height  of  the  embankment  depends  upon  the 
amount  of  water  capacity,  but  it  should  not  be  less  than 
four  by  ten  feet  wide  at  ground  level,  and  two  feet  wide 
at  the  tip.  The  inside  slope  should  be  gradual,  to  pre- 
vent washing  by  ripples  or  waves,  and  it  may  be  sodded 
or  seeded  down  to  grass  until  a  stiff  sod  is  formed,  which 
will  prevent  any  washing  away  of  the  earth. 

The  outer  embankment  may  be  steep  or  nearly  per- 
pendicular, but  as  there  will  always  be  some  seepage,  it 
would  be  wise  to  make  it  slope  gently  and  use  it  for 
raising  garden  truck,  small  fruits,  or  whatever  else  the 
farmer  may  fancy  in  the  way  of  ornament  or  profit. 

As  to  size,  that  must  be  governed  according  to  the 
irrigator's  needs.  An  acre  of  reservoir  would  not  be 
too  much  to  accommodate  a  good  windmill,  and  this  ac- 
cording to  the  measurements  already  given,  may  be 
made  to  contain  half  a  million  or  a  million  gallons.  If 
the  stored  water  is  to  be  used  frequently,  then  the  size 
of  the  reservoir  may  be  lessened. 

For  stock  purposes,  a  smaller  reservoir  may  be 
constructed  below  or  away  from  the  larger  one,  and  into 
this  smaller  one  the  water  can  easily  be  run  as  needed 
for  a  change  or  freshening;  the  excess  of  unused  water 
may  be  run  upon  any  plowed  ground  to  soak  into  the 
soil,  for  after  all  is  said,  where  there  is  moisture  in  the 
soil,  the  labor  of  irrigation  is  easy  and  the  quantity  of 
water  required  very  much  reduced.  After  once  filling 
the  reservoir  it  should  never  be  entirely  emptied,  for  if 


216  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

the  bottom  is  permitted  to  dry  it  will  surely  crack  and 
then,  when  refilled,  the  water  will  drain  out. 

TANKS. 

It  is  well  to  have  a  tank  of  some  kind  to  provide 
against  sudden  dearth  of  water  from  lack  of  wind,  or 
stoppage  of  machinery  for  repairs.  With  a  reservoir 
however,  the  necessity  of  a  tank  is  not  so  apparent 
unless  the  water  is  to  be  used  for  household  purposes, 
In  many  kitchen  or  truck  gardens,  it  is  recommended  to 
sink  a  barrel  or  square  tank  at  various  places,  say,  at 
the  head  of  the  beds  where  gross  feeding  plants  are 
raised.  Beets,  carrots,  onions,  etc.,  with  radishes  and 
lettuce,  or  salads  of  any  kind,  like  plenty  of  water,  and 
when  they  need  it  they  must  have  it.  It  is  not  always 
profitable  to  run  water  in  a  furrow  over  a  long  stretch 
of  soil  to  give  a  few  vegetables  the  trifle  of  water  they 
may  happen  to  need.  The  waste  is  too  great  to  be  worth 
while.  Hence  tanks  come  to  the  rescue  and  the  water 
may  be  raised  from  them  by  means  of  a  hand  pump. 

In  large  fields,  where  drainage  pipes  or  tile  are 
laid,  and  a  system  adopted  which  will  merge  or  unite 
the  tile  into  one  basin  or  large  cross  drainage  tile,  it  has 
already  been  said  that  by  sinking  openings  through  the 
soil  in  the  nature  of  wells  down  to  the  subterranean 
tile  and  stopping  up  the  outlets,  the  water  may  be  made 
to  rise  to  the  surface  or  near  it  and  be  utilized  by  means 
of  pumps,  or  through  ditches  or  flumes  if  the  land  below 
is  down  grade,  or  lower  than  the  source  of  supply.  In- 
stead of  a  cross  drainage  system  to  catch  the  surplus 
water,  tanks  may  be  sunk  and  the  drainage  tile  made  to 
end  in  them. 

For  windmill  purposes  to  store  water  for  house- 
hold uses,  tanks  may  be  purchased  ready  made  in  cy- 
press, pine  or  iron  at  from  about  $8  for  a  70-gallon 
tank  to  $100  for  a  5,000-gallon  one.  These  tanks  are 
made  all  the  way  up  to  100,000  gallons  capacity. 


UNIVERSITY 


?umps  and  Irrigation  Machinery.  217 

HORSE  POWER  OUTFIT. 

Pumps  are  arranged  so  as  to  be  worked  by  horse 
power,  using  one  or  two  horses.  The  one-horse  power 
pump  is  fitted  for  a  3-inch  suction  pipe  and  a  2%-inch 
discharge  pipe.  This  will  deliver  53.9  gallons  per  min- 
ute. The  two-horse  power  outfit  is  fitted  with  a  4-inch 
suction  pipe  and  a  3-inch  discharge  pipe,  the  capacity 
of  which  is  102.9  gallons  per  minute.  The  cost  of  the 
one-horse  power  is  about  $210  complete,  and  the  two- 
horse  power,  $240. 

Some  prefer  the  horse  power  outfit  to  the  windmill, 
because  they  do  not  consider  themselves  at  the  mercy 
of  the  shifting  and  variable  winds  of  heaven.  On  the 
prairies  and  near  the  sea  coast,  however,  the  windmill 
is  preferred  as  the  winds  are  nearly  constant,  at  least 
they  blow  with  sufficient  force  and  long  enough  to  sup- 
ply all  the  water  needed.  Wind  at  fifteen  miles  an  hour 
is  strong  enough  to  work  a  windmill  up  to  its  full 
capacity. 

GASOLINE  ENGINES. 

The  gasoline  engine  for  pumping  purposes  is  grow- 
ing in  favor,  owing  to  the  cheapness  of  the  fuel  and  the 
capacity  and  simplicity  of  the  engine.  An  engine  that 
costs  about  $100  will  furnish  about  1%  horse  power, 
consume  one  gallon  of  gasoline  in  ten  hours  of  steady 
work  and  supply  4,000  gallons  of  water.  Other  gaso- 
line engines  ranging  up  to  a  water  delivery  of  10,000 
gallons  and  more  an  hour  may  be  purchased  at  reason- 
able cost,  and  will  do  an  enormous  .amount  of  work  at  a 
trifling  expense.  These  engines  are  suitable  in  the 
barren  regions  where  wood  and  coal  can  not  be  had  for 
fuel  without  great  expense. 

OTHER  PUMPING  POWER. 

Where  conditions  will  admit  of  them,  steam,  hot 
air  and  even  electricity  are  brought  into  requisition  for 


218  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

pumping  water  to  be  used  in  irrigating  land.  Coal, 
wood  and  other  fuel,  however,  must  be  at  hand  in  un- 
limited quantities,  for  all  such  power  is  a  voracious 
feeder — the  more  power  the  more  fuel. 

All  the  appliances  and  machinery  for  irrigation  are 
being  reduced  to  simplicity  and  the  saving  of  water. 
Open  canals  and  ditches  with  their  loss  of  50  per  cent 
of  water  are  becoming  things  of  the  past.  Economy 
of  use  is  now  the  rule,  and  the  farmer  who  understands 
the  needs  of  soil  and  plants  makes  a  good  profit  out 
of  his  farm,  whereas  he  would  cultivate  it  at  a  loss 
without  that  knowledge.  Eaising  crops  for  market  for 
profit  has  become  a  matter  of  dollars  and  cents,  and  a 
penny  saved  is  a  penny  earned  in  agriculture  as  well  as 
in  the  mercantile  business. 

To  save  water  is  the  great  aim  of  irrigators,  and 
where  there  were  once  open  leaky  ditches  and  canals 
there  are  now  cemented  water  conveyances.  On  the 
large  farm,  as  well  as  on  the  small  one,  it  is  beginning 
to  be  understood  that  gorging  plants  with  water  and 
saturating  the  soil  is  not  the  proper  system  for  growing 
crops  for  profit.  The  lessons  sought  to  be  imparted  in 
this  book,  if  well  learned  and  followed,  can  not  fail  to 
be  of  benefit  to  every  farmer  who  reads  it.  The  essen- 
tial principles  only  are  given;  each  farmer  must  apply 
them  for  himself,  for  he  can  not  have  an  apostle  at  his 
elbow  all  the  time  to  guide  and  direct  him  when  he  is 
on  the  point  of  making  a  mistake. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

IRRIGATION   OF   PROFITABLE   CROPS. 

The  crops  a  farmer  should  raise  on  his  land  with 
profit  to  himself  depend  upon  numerous  conditions, 
many  of  them  variable.  No  matter  what  his  desires 
may  be,  no  matter  what  his  neighbor  may  do  or  raise, 
or  how  much  he  may  succeed,  every  farmer  is  a  tub 
that  must  stand  on  its  own  bottom.  He  must  say  to 
himself:  "What  is  my  land  fit  for?  WJiat  are  my 
means  of  cultivation,  my  water  supply?  What  does 
the  market  demand,  and  how  can  I  reach  that  mar- 
ket without  paying  out  all  my  profits  in  transporta- 
tion?" 

If  all  the  conditions  are  unfavorable  to  the  raising 
of  crops  with  profit  to  himself,  the  author's  advice  to 
him  is  to  raise  nothing  in  the  way  of  crops  for  mar- 
ket, but  raise  all  the  produce  possible  on  your  land 
and  feed  it  to  stock — cattle,  sheep,  hogs,  poultry.  There 
is  always  an  unvarying  demand  for  these  products  of 
the  farm,  and  though  the  market  may  be  glutted  some- 
times, yet  on  the  whole,  all  the  year  'round,  the  farmers 
always  come  out  something  ahead. 

It  appears  to  be  the  destiny  of  a  farmer  to  al- 
ways try  experiments,  put  seed  into  his  ground,  and 
then  toil  and  perspire  to  make  it  grow  to  maturity, 
and  then  get  nothing  for  his  pains.  A  farmer  will  put 
certain  seeds  into  his  ground,  and,  as  this  appears  to 
be  inevitable,  the  only  thing  that  can  be  done  is  to 
help  him  realize  on  his  expectations. 

CEREALS. 

Every  farmer  plants  wheat.  He  is  bound  to  do 
so  or  feel  that  he  is  not  really  a  farmer. 

This  grain  should  always  be  sown  on  high  ground 
and  not  in  a  deep,  mellow  soil,  for  it  is  not  a  deep- 

210 


220  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

rooted  plant.  In  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions, 
where  the  rains  do  not  fall  until  late  in  November 
or  beginning  of  December,  the  wheat  may  be  plowed 
under  after  sowing  the  surface,  and  this  at  any  time 
during  September  and  October.  It  is  good  dry  farm- 
ing to  do  so,  and  even  if  the  grain  is  to  be  irrigated 
the  effect  is  to  have  a  good  stand  by  the  time  water  is 
put  upon  the  land.  The  first  rain  that  comes  sprouts 
the  seed  and  sends  it  up  three  or  four  inches,  where 
it  is  ready  for  another  rain  or  for  an  irrigation.  It 
is  the  same  with  all  other  cereals. 

This  system  would  never  do,  however,  in  a  moist 
soil.  In  such  a  case  the  soil  should  be  carefully  plowed 
shallow  and  harrowed  and  the  seed  drilled  in,  about  a 
bushel  to  the  acre.  If  the  ground  is  surface  dry  it 
should  be  flooded,  say  two  inches,  then  in  twenty-four 
hours  harrow  and  drill  in  the  seed.  Do  not  roll  land 
where  irrigation  is  practiced,  because  it  is  liable  to 
cake,  and  this  means  evaporation.  When  the  grains 
are  up  two  or  three  inches  it  is  good  to  run  a  light 
harrow  over  the  field.  It  loosens  the  soil  and  does  not 
harm  the  grain,  even  if  it  does  pull  up  a  few  plants; 
there  is  always  too  much  sown,  anyway.  Twenty  to 
thirty  days  apart  will  be  enough  irrigation — the  first 
one  when  the  grain  is  five  or  six  inches  high,  say  two 
inches,  and  a  month  after  that  one  inch.  In  hot 
climates  it  is  beneficial  to  give  a  third  irrigation  when 
the  grain  is  heading  or  when  it  is  in  the  milk.  The 
condition  of  the  soil,  as  well  as  that  of  the  plant,  must 
be  considered  and  the  quantity  of  water  gauged  ac- 
cording to  that.  Digging  down  six  inches  will  tell 
the  condition  as  to  moisture,  and  breaking  off  a  stalk 
or  two  tell  the  condition  of  the  plant.  If  "well"  the 
stalk  will  be  juicy  and  damp  to  the  touch.  If  dry, 
yellowish,  and  breaks  easily,  give  it  water  as  soon  as 
possible. 


Irrigation  of  Profitable  Crops.  221 

The  Chinese  and  the  Japanese  plant  their  grain 
in  ridges  about  twenty  inches  apart  and  use  only  about 
ten  pounds  per  acre.  But  an  acre  will  produce  more, 
at  least  just  as  much,  as  when  drilled  or  sown  broadcast. 
One  grain  of  wheat  will  "stool"  out  into  sixty,  and 
sometimes  eighty,  healthy  stalks  in  this  way.  There 
are  some  small  farmers  who  plant  wheat  along  the 
borders  of  their  vegetable  and  small  fruit  beds  and  give 
it  careful  cultivation.  If  planted  farther  apart,  so  as 
to  admit  of  the  passage  of  a  cultivator  between  the 
rows  and  cultivated  like  corn,  the  result  is  most  aston- 
ishing. The  fact  is  that  when  a  bushel  of  wheat  can 
be  grown  in  as  small  a  space  as  a  bushel  of  corn  or 
potatoes  there  is  no  reason  why  wheat  should  not  be 
grown  in  that  manner,  at  least  on  small  farms.  One 
thing  to  be  considered  where  wheat  is  concerned  is 
that  an  excess  of  water  spoils  the  food  value  of  the 
grain.  For  feeding  or  forage  purposes  it  does  not  make 
so  much  difference,  as  water  in  abundance  increases 
the  nutritive  elements  in  the  husk. 

BARLEY. 

Barley  is  the  standard  crop  for  forage,  or  "hay/' 
in  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions.  It  will  grow  on 
almost  any  kind  of  soil,  and  being  a  deep-rooted  plant 
it  does  not  depend  so  much  on  irrigation  as  wheat.  It 
will  grow  a  good  stalk  and  form  a  good  head  for  hay 
with  six  inches  of  rainfall  and  produce  good,  market- 
able grain  with  ten  inches  and  no  irrigation. 

The  soil  should  be  plowed  deep  and  well  pulver- 
ized, then  drilled  in  either  in  the  fall  or  spring,  or 
sown  broadcast.  To  raise  it  to  perfection,  and  it  re- 
pays the  labor  of  doing  so,  it  should  be  given  water 
when  about  four  inches  high  and  another  irrigation 
when  the  heads  are  in  the  milk.  It  is  a  very  profitable 
crop  to  raise  for  brewing  purposes,  the  demand  for 
malting  barley  being  constant  and  increasing.  More- 


228  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

over,  the  price  is  much  better  than  that  for  wheat.  It 
will  grow  two  miles  above  the  sea  level  and  nourish 
in  alkali  soil  that  will  kill  a  sugar  beet. 

OATS. 

Oats,  fall  or  spring  planted,  require  plenty  of 
water  and  attention,  or  they  will  refuse  to  grow.  There 
is  one  exception,  however,  and  that  is  the  case  of  the 
"oat  hills"  in  southern  California,  where  a  crop  of 
fine  oats  springs  up  spontaneously  every  spring.  The 
stalks  grow  as  high  as  a  man's  head,  with  well  rounded 
heads,  juicy  and  succulent.  Just  before  the  fall  rains 
the  ground  is  cleared  of  the  old  stalks,  a  treetop  or  a 
harrow  dragged  over  it  roughly,  and  then  left  to  itself ; 
the  grain  comes  up  in  about  three  days  after  the  first 
rain  of  the  season  and  does  not  require  any  irrigation 
at  all.  The  origin  of  this  singular  exception  to  the 
rules  relating  to  oats  is  in  the  old  padres  of  the  mis- 
sions, who,  when  traveling  about  on  their  ponies  for 
many  hundreds  of  miles,  always  carried  a  bag  of  grain 
at  their  saddlebow,  and  when  they  came  to  a  spot  that 
looked  fertile  they  scattered  the  seed  with  a  blessing 
that  it  might  grow.  For  over  a  hundred  years  this 
grain  grew  and  there  was  no  man  to  harvest  it,  so  it 
ripened  and  returned  back  into  the  soil  whence  it 
came,  and  now,  to  this  day,  it  keeps  on  sprouting  and 
never  ceasing,  the  soil  below  being  dry  and  the  seed 
sprouting  when  the  moisture  reaches  it. 

However,  many  farmers  irrigate  oats  frequently 
under  the  supposition  that  they  need  more  water  than 
any  other  cereal,  and  the  proof  of  it  is  that  the  crop  is 
enormous  when  well  irrigated. 

RYE. 

This  is  a  hardy  annual  that  will  grow  to  full  ma- 
turity and  give  a  good  harvest  with  very  little  care  and 
irrigation.  A  medium  irrigation  when  about  half 


Irrigation  of  Profitable  Crops.  223 

grown  and  another  when  heading  is  sufficient.  Culti- 
vation, however,  should  be  deep  and  the  soil  well  pul- 
verized. 

CORN. 

Corn  is  a  deep-rooted  plant  and  hence  the  soil 
should  be  plowed  deep  and  care  taken  that  there  is 
moisture  in  the  subsoil.  There  is  no  need  of  surface 
moisture,  wherefore  deep  furrow  irrigation,  with  after- 
liberal  cultivation  and  soil  pulverization,  will  produce 
a  fine  crop. 

A  side  hill  where  there  is  seepage  water  is  most 
favorable  for  all  the  varieties  of  corn.  In  some  in- 
stances small  fields  of  corn  on  a  side  hill  have  pro- 
duced marvelously  by  merely  filling  a  ditch  at  the 
top  of  the  slope  and  allowing  it  to  seep  down  into  the 
root  zone.  On  flat  land,  with  subsoil  moisture,  one 
watering  when  the  plant  is  tasseling  will  be  ample. 

In  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions  corn  is  plowed 
under  dry,  as  is  the  case  with  wheat  and  other  cereals. 
Five  or  six  grains  are  dropped  in  every  third  furrow 
a  good  step  of  the  plowman  apart  and  left  to  itself 
with  a  good  deep  cultivation  when  about  a  foot  high, 
the  earth  being  thrown  over  against  the  stalks. 

Corn  does  remarkably  well  in  deep,  rich  soil,  but 
will  grow  very  well  in  any  soil  provided  the  roots  can 
reach  moisture.  The  manufacture  of  starch  in  the 
plant  ecomony  demands  great  drafts  upon  the  chemical 
laboratory  of  the  soil.  The  bottom  of  the  stalk  of 
a  young  shoot  of  corn  is  as  sweet  as  sugar  cane,  which 
is  proof  that  the  plant  is  drawing  its  food  far  below 
the  surface,  and  that  it  is  preparing  to  manufacture 
the  starch  which  is  afterward  found  in  the  ripened 
grain. 

Corn  grows  better  in  ridges  than  in  hills,  even 
when  not  irrigated.  In  all  cases  the  earth  must  be 
pulled  up  around  and  close  to  the  stalks,  not  only  for 


224  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

the  purpose  of  mulching  against  evaporation  of  the 
moisture,  but  to  shield  the  process  of  converting  sugar 
into  starch,  a  process  quickly  stopped  by  exposure  to 
the  elements  or  to  desiccating  atmospheric  air. 

All  of  the  foregoing  cereals  may  be  grown  for 
forage,  and  if  cut  when  in  the  milk  they  are  productive 
of  good  flesh  on  cattle  and  will  grow  at  the  rate  of 
from  four  to  six  tons  to  the  acre.  Where  dry  farming 
is  practiced,  and  the  season  is  unfavorable  for  the  per- 
fection, of  the  grain,  the  plant  is  cut  for  fodder  or 
hay  and  fed  to  the  cattle,  and  in  the  case  of  corn  it  is 
fed  green  to  milch  cows. 

RICE. 

This  is  an  amphibious  plant;  some  call  it  aquatic. 
However  that  may  be,  the  ground  is  prepared  for  it 
as  for  wheat,  by  thorough  tilling  and  pulverizing.  The 
rice  is  sown  about  eighty  pounds  to  the  acre  and  then 
harrowed  and  rolled.  Left  to  itself,  it  sprouts  and 
grows  up  to  about  five  inches  without  showing  any 
aquatic  properties.  But  the  farmer  then  puts  about 
an  inch  of  water,  perhaps  two  inches — that  is,  covers 
the  field  under  one  or  two  inches  of  water — and  as  the 
plant  grows  he  adds  more  water  until  the  field  is  buried 
six  to  ten  inches  deep.  The  plant  grows  vigorously, 
and  when  the  grain  is  in  the  milk  the  water  is  run 
off,  and  by  the  time  the  rice  is  ripe  the  ground  is  dry 
enough  to  harvest.  It  is  harvested  very  much  the  same 
as  wheat — put  into  bundles  and  piled  up  to  be  cured 
and  ready  for  the  separator  or  thresher. 

In  its  wild  state  rice  is  essentially  aquatic;  the 
plant  roots  never  find  themselves  in  anything  but  mud. 
From  time  immemorial  the  Chinese  have  treated  it 
as  a  semi-aquatic  plant,  and  if  any  one  has  ever  tried 
to  raise  it  like  wheat  the  author  has  not  been  able  to 
learn.  Perhaps  it  might  be  BO  grown  and  produce  a 


Irrigation  of  Profitable  Crops.  225 

new  variety  and  be  an  addition  to  our  valuable  list  of 

cereals. 

COMMERCIAL  PRODUCTS. 

OISER    WILLOW. 

The  oiser  willow  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
baskets  and  its  culture  may  be  made  very  profitable 
if  near  the  market  of  a  large  city  or  basket  manu- 
factory. 

Some  years  ago  Mr.  G.  Groezinger,  a  vineyardist 
near  Yountville,  Napa  County,  Cal.,  sent  to  Germany 
for  some  cuttings.  He  received  about  fifty  and  planted 
them  along  one  of  his  lateral  ditches,  which  always 
contained  water,  more  or  less  of  a  good  supply.  The 
cuttings  took  root  and  grew  beautifully,  and  the  next 
year  he  pruned  the  plants  down  to  stumps  and  planted 
the  cuttings  all  along  the  ditch  for  several  hundred 
feet.  They  grew  bunchy,  with  thick  clumps  of  long, 
slender  branches  drooping  over  the  ditch  and  made  a 
delightful  shade.  Calling  the  attention  of  a  San 
Francisco  basketmaker  to  them,  the  latter  bought  the 
supply  on  the  ground  and  sent  men  out  to  prune  the 
plants.  They  cut  of?  the  long  branches  and  cast  them 
into  the  ditch  to  soak  in  the  water,  and  in  a  week  or 
so  came  out  again  and  stripped  off  the  bark,  leaving 
slender,  white,  pliable  branches,  which  were  speedily 
made  into  fine,  marketable  baskets  of  all  sizes  and 
shapes.  After  the  fourth  year  of  his  planting  the 
original  cuttings  Mr.  Groezinger  received  more  than 
$1,500  per  year  income  from  the  cuttings,  the  pur- 
chaser doing  all  the  work  of  harvesting  them. 

The  plant  will  grow  in  any  climate,  provided  it 
has  abundant  water  during  the  growing  season.  Along 
a  ditch  is  its  habitat. 

FLAX  AND  HEMP. 

These  two  textile  fabric  plants,  so  to  speak,  may 
be  raised  to  perfection  by  irrigation.  They  require, 


226  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

however,  a  moist  soil,  and  for  that  sub-irrigation 
would  be  the  proper  system  of  irrigating  them.  They 
are  deep-rooted  plants  and  may  be  planted  in  drills  or 
beds.  Both  plants  are  profitable  for  their  fiber  and 
for  their  seeds,  the  latter  yielding  up  to  twenty  bush- 
els per  acre  about  a  ton  or  two  tons  of  fiber.  The  lat- 
ter must  be  soaked  in  a  ditch  or  other  receptacle  to 
separate  the  fiber  from  its  hard  envelope. 

HOPS. 

This  plant  should  find  a  place  in  every  garden 
and  on  every  farm,  if  not  for  market  purposes  at  least 
for  household  uses.  It  is  very  easily  grown,  being  a 
deep-rooted  perennial  which  needs  a  moist  subsoil. 
The  plant  is  propagated  from  cuttings,  three  eyes  to 
each  piece  planted.  At  least  four  inches  is  the  proper 
depth  to  plant  the  cuttings,  and  they  will  speedily 
come  up  and  spread  runners  out  in  every  direction. 
They  should  be  pruned  down  to  a  few  and  then  poled. 

COTTON   AND  TOBACCO. 

These  two  valuable  products  belong  to  field  cul- 
ture on  an  immense  scale.  Cotton  may  well  be  said  to 
be  "king"  and  tobacco  its  "heir  apparent."  There 
are  no  two  plants  in  the  world  so  necessary — that  is, 
cotton  for  its  economical  uses  and  tobacco  as  an  article 
of  luxury.  Cotton  is  a  deep-rooted  plant  requiring  a 
moist  soil.  Where  irrigation  is  necessary  the  soil  is 
irrigated  preparatory  to  planting  the  seed  and  once 
again  when  the  balls  begin  to  form.  The  plant  needs 
very  little  care,  and  in  that  respect  it  is  the  very  oppo- 
site of  tobacco. 

Tobacco  requires  a  soil  very  carefully  prepared. 
The  plants  are  raised  from  seed  in  frames  and  set  out 
the  same  as  cabbage  and  tomatoes,  carefully  puddled 
in  and  the  rows  irrigated  by  a  small  stream  until  the 


Irrigation  of  Profitable  Crops.  227 

plants  take  root,  which  they  will  do  in  a  few  days. 
Frequent  and  thorough  cultivation  of  the  soil  is  neces- 
sary, but  water  must  be  applied  sparingly,  one  irriga- 
tion during  the  middle  period  of  growth  being  suffi- 
cient, provided  the  cultivation  is  thorough  and  the 
subsoil  moist.  When  the  soil  is  dry  and  warm,  irri- 
gation may  be  applied  every  ten  days  after  the  first 
month  of  growth.  In  the  arid  region  top  or  leaf  spray- 
ing is  necessary,  but  tobacco  is  not  recommended  as  a 
plant  profitable  in  arid  soil,  it  thriving  best  in  a  warm, 
moist  climate. 

STATISTICS  OF  PRODUCTION. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  know  the  amount  of  the 
foregoing  profitable  plants  produced  in  the  United 
S'tates.  The  following  is  an  approximate  of  quantities 
as  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained  from  the  means  of  in- 
formation : 

Wheat 753,460,218  bushels 

Barley 178,795,890  bushels 

Oats 736,808,724  bushels 

Eye. 30,344,830  bushels 

Corn 2,522,519,891  bushels 

Rice 283,665,627  pounds 

Cotton 5,384,000,000  pounds 

Tobacco 500,000,000  pounds 

Hops 20,000,000  pounds  (about) 

Flaxseed 5,000,000  bushels  (about) 

The  total  value  of  which  was  in  the  neighborhood 
of  two  thousand  million  dollars  ($2,000,000,000). 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

IBRIGATION   OF   PROFITABLE  PLANTS. 

It  has  been  impressed  upon  the  mind  of  the 
reader  in  the  preceding  chapters  that  plants  draw 
their  food  from  moisture  and  not  from  water. 
True,  moisture  comes  from  water,  but  the  mean- 
ing sought  to  be  conveyed  is  that  moisture  is  a 
food  solution,  a  preparation  for  nourishing  the  plant — 
its  "pap,"  so  to  speak.  When  water  is  applied  to  the 
soil  it  attacks  the  various  soluble  salts,  both  organic 
and  inorganic,  and  causes  a  chemical  change  to  take 
place,  or,  rather,  a  series  of  chemical  changes,  and 
in  that  way  the  elements  in  the  soil  are  converted  into 
food.  There  are  fermentations,  transformations  and 
many  radical  changes  effected,  until  the  water  con- 
verted into  moisture  can  not  be  recognized  as  water 
at  all  or  any  more  than  vinegar,  wine  or  potatoes  can 
be  called  water,  although  they  contain  water  as  an 
element  in  their  composition,  as  an  ingredient. 

This  fact  can  not  be  overestimated,  because  on  its 
understanding  hinges  the  art  of  irrigation.  There 
are  air  plants  which  have  no  rooting  in  the  soil,  yet 
they  could  not  live  without  moisture.  There  are  also 
plants  which  flourish  in  the  desert,  where  the  soil  is 
entirely  dry  for  a  hundred  feet  below  the  surface,  yet 
these  could  not  live  without  moisture.  The  question 
is,  Where  do  they  get  it?  They  certainly  do  not  re- 
quire water,  for  there  is  none  within  reach  of  their 
roots  or  leaves.  They  obtain  it  from  the  atmosphere, 
and  this  atmosphere  is  an  element  that  must  be  reck- 
oned with  by  every  irrigator.  We  know  that  there  is 
always  a  certain  quantity  of  moisture  in  the  atmos- 
phere, which  is  better  known  by  the  name  of  Cfhu- 
midity,"  and  this  humidity  can  be  easily  measured. 

When  the  atmosphere  is  charged  with  80  to  100 
per  cent  of  moisture,  or  humidity,  that  moisture  is 

228 


Irrigation  of  Profitable  Plants.  229 

precipitated  upon  the  soil  in  the  form  of  rain,  snow, 
etc.  From  50  per  cent  to  80,  when  the  air  is  cool, 
we  have  dew,  fog,  etc.,  visible  to  the  eye.  When  the 
air  is  warm,  however,  the  moisture  is  not  perceptible 
to  the  eye,  but  it  is  there  nevertheless. 

Now,  with  the  atmosphere  weighing  or  pressing 
upon  the  earth's  surface  about  fifteen  pounds  to  every 
square  inch,  there  is  not  a  nook,  cranny  or  opening  that 
it  does  not  penetrate,  and  it  carries  with  it  the  moisture 
it  contains,  and  when  it  comes  in  contact  with  any  ab- 
sorbent, as  the  soil  undoubtedly  is,  it  leaves  its  moist- 
ure there.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  it  is  insisted  upon 
so  strenuously  that  the  farmer  must  keep  his  soil  open 
to  the  air — the  soil  should  be  aerated  as  much  as  pos- 
sible. This  done  carefully  and  constantly,  the  labor 
of  irrigation  is  rendered  easier,  and  its  effects  more 
perceptible;  likewise  less  application  of  water  wfrll 
prove  adequate  to  the  raising  of  any  plant. 

The  necessity  for  this  aeration  of  the  soil  is  the 
same  in  the  cereals  alluded  to  in  the  last  chapter  as 
in  the  root  plants  and  tubers.  In  the  case  of  cereals, 
however,  taking  a  wheat  field  as  an  illustration,  it  is 
impossible  to  cultivate  the  soil  because  the  plants  cover 
the  surface  of  the  ground  closely.  What  can  and 
should  be  done  is  to  till  the  soil  as  deep  as  possible  be- 
fore planting  and  harrow  after  the  plants  are  up,  say 
two  or  three  inches.  If  any  other  sort  of  cultivation 
is  attempted  the  wheat  and  other  grain  must  be  cul- 
tivated as  in  corn,  by  being  planted  in  rows.  The 
production  per  acre  would  be  greater  than  when  sown 
broadcast  or  drilled,  but  that  method  is  not  convenient, 
at  least  it  is  not  in  vogue  in  the  United  States,  and 
probably  never  will  be  in  large  field  culture,  it  being 
easier  and  less  laborious  to  flood  the  soil  with  water 
to  create  the  requisite  amount  of  moisture. 

But  in  the  case  of  vegetables,  roots  and  tubers 


280  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

there  is  no  excuse  for  not  aerating  the  soil,  since  these 
plants  can  not  be  planted  so  close  together  as  to  en- 
tirely cover  the  ground,  except  in  the  last  stages  of 
their  leaf  growth,  when  the  crop  is  assured.  Kunning 
ground  vines  even  may  be  cultivated  almost  to  the 
point  of  ripeness,  and  when,  as  in  the  case  of  water- 
melons, cucumbers  and  the  like,  or  strawberries,  the 
vines  have  covered  the  ground,  a  few  rills  of  water 
permitted  to  find  their  own  way  beneath  is  better  than 
a  flooding,  for  the  latter  is  apt  to  reach  the  stalks  or 
stems  and  either  rot  them  or  bake  the  ground  and 
choke  off  the  air,  thus  killing  the  crop  or  injuring  it 
materially.  All  this  can  be  provided  for  at  the  last 
run  of  the  cultivator,  or  stirring  of  the  hoe,  by  leaving 
small  furrows  or  depressions  here  and  there  for  the 
water  to  run  in  as  channels  when  cultivation  is  no 
longer  possible  without  tearing  up  the  plants. 

VEGETABLES. 

Potatoes  and  tubers  generally  favor  a  moist,  cool 
soil,  although  in  the  arid  regions  under  a  very  hot  sun 
they  grow  to  perfection  and  to  an  immense  size.  A 
15-pound  Irish  potato  or  a  30-pound  sweet  is  pleasant 
to  look  upon,  but  not  so  well  adapted  to  culinary  re- 
quirements as  those  of  a  smaller  and  more  convenient 
size.  With  too  much  water  or  an  abundant  supply 
potatoes  become  watery,  for  they  are  gross  feeders — 
gluttons,  in  fact — and  they  must  be  restrained. 

It  is  not  desirable  to  plant  potatoes  in  hills  where 
irrigation  is  practiced;  better  plant  in  rows  on  level 
ground  and  then  run  water  in  a  furrow  between  the 
rows,  which  may  be  from  three  feet  to  four  feet  apart; 
the  closer  the  rows  the  better,  for  then  the  vines  will 
shade  more  surface  and  retain  the  moisture  longer. 
In  the  rows  plant  the  eyes  from  two  to  two  and  one- 
half  feet  apart.  In  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions  it 


Irrigation  of  Profitable  Plants.  281 

is  a  good  plan  to  plow  under  every  third  furrow,  the 
plowman  dropping  several  cuttings  at  every  long  step 
in  the  furrow.  Of  course,  the  soil  must  be  well  tilled 
preparatory  to  planting,  and  in  a  moist  condition,  then 
well  harrowed  and  pulverized  afterward.  When  the 
plants  are  up  about  an  inch  or  two,  run  the  cultivator 
through,  or  a  small  plow  would  be  better,  so  that  a 
small  furrow  can  be  left  between  the  rows,  the  earth 
being  thrown  up  against  the  plants.  When  the  plants 
are  up  a  foot  and  tubers  begin  to  form,  run  water 
through  the  middle  furrow  for  an  hour  or  so  and  the 
next  day  run  plow  back  and  forth,  throwing  the  earth 
over  on  the  wet  soil  to  form  a  ridge.  The  day  after 
level  the  ground  with  a  cultivator  and  let  it  alone  for 
a  week.  After  this,  one  more  irrigation  when  the  tu- 
bers are  about  the  size  of  a  hazelnut,  or  filbert,  will 
be  sufficient  to  mature  the  crop.  The  soil  should  al- 
ways be  kept  open  and  the  moisture  near  the  surface, 
for  the  potato  has  a  tendency  to  crowd  out  of  the  soil. 
In  the  arid  regions  a  singular  peculiarity  of  the  early 
potato  is  to  grow  to  maturity  before  the  plant  is  ready 
to  flower.  This  is  owing  to  the  rapid  underground 
growth  and  is  of  no  consequence  except  that  the  tubers 
are  all  the  better  for  absorbing  the  nourishment  that 
should  go  into  the  flowers.  Sweet  potatoes  have  this 
curious  habit  also.  One  case  which  has  been  called  to 
the  attention  of  the  author  is  that  of  a  2-rod  row  of 
sweet  potatoes.  The  vines  refused  to  grow  more  than 
an  inch  or  two  above  the  ground;  they  did  not  become 
vines  at  all,  but  grew  straight  up  as  far  as  they  grew 
at  all.  Thinking  they  needed  water,  they  were  irri- 
gated liberally,  and  every  few  days  for  three  months 
water  was  applied  and  the  soil  kept  loose.  Wearied 
with  the  efforts  to  make  these  vines  grow,  a  wise 
neighbor  was  called  in,  and  after  studying  the  mat- 
ter for  a  few  minutes  and  listening  to  what  had  been 


282  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

done  to  encourage  their  growth  he  took  a  spade  and 
dug  down  into  the  head  of  the  row,  unearthing  a  30- 
pound  sweet  potato  or  yam.  Continuing  this  explora- 
tion all  along  the  row,  at  least  100  sweet  potatoes  were 
dug  out  varying  from  thirty  pounds  down  to  five 
pounds.  The  growth  had  all  been  under  ground,  the 
tubers  taking  all  the  nourishment,  leaving  none  for 
the  tops.  Cooking  disclosed  the  fact  that  they  were 
very  coarse  and  rank,  unfit  for  human  food  but  pleas- 
ant to  the  palates  of  a  pair  of  hogs  which  devoured 
them  with  a  relish  and  asked  for  more  in  their  pe- 
culiar language. 

For  tubers  generally,  keep  the  water  away  from 
them  and  give  them  moisture.  This  may  be  done  by 
permitting  the  furrow  water  to  soak  into  the  soil  and 
then  throwing  it  over  toward  the  plants.  Sub-irriga- 
tion is  very  favorable  for  the  growth  of  tubers,  and 
when  the  land  is  drained  and  the  soil  kept  well  open 
and  finely  pulverized  there  need  be  no  fear  of  failure 
to  raise  a  crop.  Sandy  loam  is  the  best  soil,  although 
rich,  well  manured  ground,  consisting  of  mixed  clay 
and  sand  or  loam,  is  productive  of  good  crops,  but  the 
richer  the  soil  and  the  warmer,  unless  there  is  very 
quick,  almost  hothouse  growth,  is  liable  to  cause  rot 
or  other  diseases  peculiar  to  tubers. 

Sweet  potatoes  may  be  grown  to  perfection,  that 
is  they  will  grow  to  be  sweet  potatoes  out  of  which  the 
sugar  will  bubble  when  baked,  if  planted  in  almost 
pure  sand.  This,  of  course,  in  the  humid  regions,  for 
an  arid  sandheap  would  cook  the  cuttings  before  they 
had  a  chance  to  sprout. 

Turnips,  beets,  carrots,  parsnips,  salsify  and  other 
root  crops  will  grow  in  any  kind  of  soil  if  properly 
tilled  and  well  irrigated,  but  if  succulence  is  an  ob- 
ject plant  the  seeds  in  rich,  black  loamy  soil,  plowed 


Irrigation  of  Profitable  Plants.  238 

deep  and  well  pulverized.  They  may  be  irrigated  at 
any  time  the  ground  shows  dryness  by  cutting  a  deep 
furrow  within  a  foot  or  eighteen  inches  of  the  plant, 
taking  care  not  to  let  the  water  reach  the  crown  or 
rot  will  ensue.  Flooding  should  not  be  practiced  ex- 
cept in  the  case  of  field  beets,  and  then  only  when 
the  leaves  shade  the  ground.  Clean  and  thorough 
cultivation  is  necessary,  and  in  the  case  of  small  roots 
moisture  rather  than  water  should  be  supplied  by  run- 
ning water  in  a  furrow  at  least  twelve  inches  distant 
and  then  drawing  the  moist  earth  over  toward  the 
plant  the  next  day,  covering  the  furrow  immediately 
upon  completing  the  irrigation  to  prevent  evaporation 
and  baking  of  the  soil. 

THE  KITCHEN  GARDEN. 

Here  is  where  irrigation  can  be  made  to  shine 
like  a  gem  in  a  barren  waste.  Our  markets  are  filled 
with  tasteless  vegetables,  unfit  for  table  use.  Without 
flavor  and  stringy,  the  housewife  buys  them  every  day 
because  they  represent  green  things  and  look  plump, 
as  if  filled  with  succulence.  But  they  are  like  apples 
of  Sodom,  or  like  the  book  St.  John  ate — sweet  in  his 
mouth  and  bitter  in  his  stomach. 

The  soil  of  a  kitchen  garden  must  be  rich  and  ex- 
tremely well  tilled.  It  should  be  thoroughly  broken 
up  and  pulverized  after  plowing  under  well-rotted 
manure.  Fertilizers  are  unobjectionable,  certainly,  but 
they  do  not  tend  to  open  the  soil  as  does  ordinary 
barnyard  manure.  Besides,  it  is  better  to  furnish 
the  soil -with  the  elements  out  of  which  the  plant  can 
manufacture  its  own  food  than  furnish  it  with  ready-  fi 
prepared  material.  They  know  what  they  want  better  ... 
than  man,  and  if  it  is  not  ready  at  hand  they  manu- 
facture it.  As  is  said  in  a  preceding  chapter,  a  plant 
and  the  elements  in  the  soil  constitute  a  perfect  chem- 


234  The  Primer  of  Irrigation, 

ical  laboratory,  and  any  attempt  to  interfere  with 
nature  is  apt  to  "boggle"  the  creative  power  of  the 
plant.  It  does  not  want  help ;  it  must  have  material. 

For  the  purposes  of  irrigation  the  land  should  be 
level  and  slightly  elevated  to  permit  the  flow  of  water. 
Bather  than  flood  the  ground,  as  is  a  common  practice, 
it  would  be  better  to  run  a  number  of  close  furrows 
and  then  turn  the  earth  over  as  soon  as  the  water 
stops  running.  This  will  moisten  the  ground  and  put 
it  in  better  condition;  moreover,  it  will  give  infiltra- 
tion and  capillary  action  a  chance  to  operate  and  create 
moisture. 

The  salads  and  radishes  require  a  good  supply  of 
water  and  this  may  be  given  them  by  small  furrow  irri- 
gation and  hoeing  or  cultivating  over,  or  the  rows  may 
be  sprinkled.,  If  sprinkling  is  begun  it  must  be  con- 
tinued, for  the  roots  will  come  up  near  the  surface  for 
the  moisture.  These  plants,  however,  are  short-lived; 
a  few  weeks  and  they  are  ready  to  harvest. 

Sub-irrigation  is  better  adapted  to  celery  than  any 
other  system.  With  rows  of  tiling  ten  or  twelve  feet 
apart,  or  less,  any  number  of  plants  can  be  grown  on 
an  acre.  By  planting  close,  a  few  inches  apart,  and 
irrigated  plentifully  they  are  self-blanching,  though  to 
reap  all  the  benefit  of  garden  culture  the  old  way  of 
planting  in  furrows  and  drawing  the  earth  up  around 
the  plant  is  the  better  method  where  flavor  is  desired. 
If  the  celery  patch  is  small,  a  circular  or  cylindrical 
shade  of  cardboard  or  straw  matting  may  be  put  around 
the  plant.  Lettuce  is  treated  in  this  way  to  make  it 
grow  up  long  and  blanched,  which  gives  the  well- 
known  "salade  Romaine." 

Beans  and  peas  are  deep-rooters,  the  former  grow- 
ing deeper  than  the  latter.  Both  love  a  sandy  loam  and 
may  be  planted  in  drills,  the  rows  about  twenty  inches 
or  three  feet  apart.  If  the  soil  is  dry  they  should  be 


Irrigation  «f  Profitable  Plmnts.  235 

irrigated  between  the  rows  when  the  first  true  leaves 
appear,  and  at  least  twice  more  before  the  flowers  ap- 
pear, at  which  period  they  should  receive  a  plentiful 
supply  of  moisture.  Once  a  week  is  not  too  often  for 
irrigating  these  and  all  other  leguminous  plants. 

Tomatoes  may  be  well  soaked  when  young  and 
then  left  to  themselves,  giving  them  about  three  irri- 
gations at  regular  intervals  until  the  fruit  sets.  Too 
much  water  will  cause  them  to  run  to  vines,  and, 
moreover,  cause  rot.  Where  there  is  any  rainfall  dur- 
ing the  period  of  growth  after  the  first  irrigation,  cul- 
tivate constantly  and  suspend  water  applications. 

Melons  and  cucumbers  require  warmth,  and  hence 
if  the  water  be  cold  the  plants  will  be  set  back,  par- 
ticularly if  young.  Good  soil  moisture  is  all  that  is 
necessary  with  thorough  cultivation,  and  when  the 
vines  cover  the  ground  careful  flooding  will  be  bene- 
ficial. Keep  the  earth  up  around  the  plants  and  the 
water  away  from  them,  as  they  need  plenty  of  air. 

In  the  case  of  cabbages  and  cauliflowers  the  young 
plants  should  be  puddled  in  and  this  followed  by  a 
good  furrow  irrigation  close  to  the  plants,  followed  by 
cultivation,  throwing  the  earth  against  the  stalks. 
After  the  plants  show  signs  of  heading,  irrigate  in  fur- 
rows between  the  rows  and  the  next  day  or  so  culti- 
vate the  moist  ground  over  against  the  plant,  or  with- 
out touching  it  if  possible. 

It  would  require  a  volume  to  detail  all  the  plants 
useful  as  food  that  may  be  grown  in  the  kitchen  gar- 
den. The  main  object  of  this  book  is  to  give  the  out- 
lines of  irrigation,  and  not  how  to  plant,  or  specify 
varieties  of  plants.  The  rules  to  be  observed  are  gen- 
eral, but  in  every  case  they  may  be  adapted  by  using 
good  judgment.  Thus:  When  the  sun  is  hot,  if  irri- 
gation is  necessary  run  the  water  in  furrows,  not  so 
close  to  the  plants  as  to  wet  the  stalks  or  crown  of 


<i36  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

the  roots,  then  by  cultivation  the  moist  ground  may 
be  thrown  close  enough  to  the  plant  roots  to  enable 
them  to  reach  it.  If  the  day  is  cloudy  and  no  indica- 
tions of  a  hot  sun,  less  care  is  required.  Then  it  does 
not  make  any  difference  whether  the  plants  are  wet 
or  not,  but  they  must  be  hoed  or  the  earth  must  be 
loosened  around  them  to  prevent  hardening  or  baking, 
which  is  always  detrimental  in  the  case  of  every  plant, 
whether  hardy  or  tender. 

To  ascertain  whether  there  is  moisture  enough  in 
the  soil,  do  not  wait  for  the  plant  to  tell  you  by  droop- 
ing or  twisting  its  leaves.  Then  it  may  be  too  late 
and  the  plant  will  have  stopped  growing,  or  the  sub- 
sequent crop  will  be  poor.  Bore  or  dig  down  into  the 
soil  say  one  foot,  and  if  the  earth  feels  damp,  or  will 
slightly  pack  in  the  hand  when  squeezed,  there  need 
be  no  immediate  application  of  water.  But  if  com- 
paratively dry,  so  that  it  will  not  soil  a  clean  hand- 
kerchief, water  must  be  applied,  and  the  best  way  is 
to  furrow  the  ground  in  small  furrows  and  run  the 
water  in  rills,  cultivating  as  soon  as  possible;  or  if  the 
plants  are  large,  like  sweet  corn,  cabbages,  beets,  par- 
snips, etc.,  cut  a  large  furrow  between  the  rows  and 
run  it  full  of  water,  permitting  seepage,  infiltration 
and  capillary  motion  to  carry  it  to  the  right  place,  the 
root  zone.  Whether  it  is  doing  its  work  properly  can 
be  ascertained  by  thrusting  the  hand  down  near  the 
plant,  the  soil  being  supposed  to  be  pulverized  suffi- 
ciently to  reach  at  least  three  or  four  inches  down;  if 
not,  it  must  be  made  so. 

Nothing  has  been  said  about  weeds,  because  the 
supposition  is  that  no  farmer  will  permit  a  weed  to 
grow  on  his  land.  Two  plants  can  not  very  well  grow 
in  the  same  place,  and  in  the  case  of  the  weed  it  will 
destroy  the  plant  as  quickly  as  vice  will  a  man  of 
good  morals.  As  the  story  goes:  A  man  planted 


Irrigation  of  Profitable  Plants.  237 

pumpkin  seeds  with  his  corn,  but  the  corn  grew  so 
fast  that  it  pulled  up  the  pumpkin  vines.  The  reader 
is  at  liberty  to  doubt  this  story,  but  the  idea  of  it  is 
to  avoid  trying  to  make  two  plants  grow  in  the  same 
spot. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

ORCHARDS,  VINEYARDS  AND  SMALL  FRUITS. 

If  there  is  no  water  in  the  subsoil  of  an  orchard, 
no  ground  water,  or  water  table,  as  it  is  called,  it  will 
be  advisable  to  create  an  artificial  one.  One  great 
drawback  in  orchard  cultivation  in  the  arid  and  semi- 
arid  regions  is,  that  the  moisture  does  not  penetrate  to 
a  sufficient  depth  to  enable  the  deep  roots  to  derive 
any  benefit  therefrom.  The  consequence  is  that  where 
the  moisture  occupies  a  shallow  belt  the  small  feeding 
roots  are  forced  to  come  to  the  surface,  or  near  enough 
to  the  surface  to  receive  all  the  desiccating  effects  of 
a  hot  sun,  and  a  dry  atmosphere.  As  trees  require 
their  natural  food  as  well  as  plants  of  the  most  suc- 
culent nature,  it  will  be  readily  perceived  that  these 
surface  roots  will  soon  exhaust  the  nourishment  they 
require  and  then  the  whole  tree  will  feel  the  effects. 

The  finer  and  more,  highly  flavored  the  fruit  the 
more  care  must  be  taken  to  see  that  it  has  the  proper 
quality  and  amount  of  food  elements.  It  requires  the 
destruction  of  a  vast  quantity  of  roses  to  obtain  one 
single  ounce  of  attar  of  roses,  and  to  perfect  the  flavor 
of  a  single  peach  the  distillation  in  the  laboratory  of 
the  soil  must  be  enormous.  When  it  comes  to  one  or 
several  acres  of  luscious  fruit,  the  quantity  of  elements 
necessary  to  perfect  the  fruit  is  simply  incalculable. 

From  this  idea  will  naturally  be  derived  two  sug- 
gestions: Let  nothing  grow  in  an  orchard  but  the 
trees  bearing  fruit;  second,  see  to  it  that  the  soil  has 
moisture  down  to  a  good  depth,  five  or  six  feet,  before 
venturing  to  set  out  the  selected  trees. 

It  is  sometimes  customary  to  plant  email  fruits 
between  the  rows  of  fruit  trees;  some  plant  vegetables, 
strawberries,  and  even  forage  plants  to  occupy  the 
ground  and  keep  it  busy  while  the  fruit  trees  are  grow- 


Orchardt,  Vineyards  and  Small  Fruits.  239 

ing  and  coming  into  bearing.  Better  have  only  one 
tree  in  its  twenty  or  thirty  feet  square  of  well  tilled 
vacant  soil,  than  ten  trees  surrounded  by  stranger  plants 
to  eat  out  their  substance.  There  is  a  very  good  rea- 
son for  not  mixing  up  plants  in  this  manner,  which 
is,  not  all  plants  require  the  same  amount  of  mois- 
ture, some  requiring  more,  others  less.  Now  if  the 
orchard  is  made  a  hodge  podge  of  plants  with  differ- 
ent appetites,  and  requiring  a  different  diet,  how  will 
it  be  possible  to  administer  to  each  one  according  to 
its  necessities?  Some  will  be  overfed,  other  underfed, 
with  the  result  that  none  of  them  will  be  perfect  or 
produce  what  is  expected  or  hoped  from  them.  The 
only  case  where  a  little  crowding  will  be  justified  is 
in  the  case  of  peach  trees.  These  come  into  bearing 
very  young,  in  some  localities  under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances  two  or  three  years  after  setting  out,  at 
which  time  the  tree  will  be  about  five  years  old.  As 
peach  trees  bear  heavily  when  fostered  carefully,  they 
are  short  lived,  and  therefore,  many  fruit  farmers  plant 
young  peach  trees  in  the  rows  about  fifteen  feet  from 
the  bearing  trees  when  the  latter  are  in  their  third 
or  fourth  year  of  bearing,  and  when  the  old  trees 
shown  signs  of  degeneracy  they  are  cut  down  and  the 
younger  trees  left  to  bear  the  burden  of  production 
alone.  There  is  no  harm  in  thus  maintaining  the  full 
vigor  of  a  peach  orchard,  for  the  trees  belong  to  the 
same  family  and  require  the  same  food  for  their  main- 
tenance and  practically  the  same  quantity  of  irrigating 
water. 

So  far  as  filling  the  soil  with  water  is  concerned, 
where  there  is  an  absence  of  ground  water  it  is  better  to 
irrigate  for  a  full  year  or  season  before  setting  out  the 
young  orchard  trees.  If  the  soil  is  carefully  tilled 
and  pulverized,  just  as  if  the  orchard  were  in  good 
bearing,  the  next  season  will  find  an  orchard  ready  for 


140  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

planting,  and  the  process  of  growth,  will  continue  with- 
out any  interruption  and  the  applying  of  water  be  at- 
tended with  less  waste. 

If  there  is  ground  water  in  plenty  and  within  six 
or  eight  feet  of  the  surface  it  is  liable  to  come  nearer 
by  fresh  applications  of  water  and  trench  upon  the 
root  zone,  thus  destroying  the  trees.  This  will  soon 
appear  in  evidence  by  the  top  limbs  drying  up  or  dy- 
ing. It  should  be  always  borne  in  mind  that  generally 
there  is  as  much  of  the  plant  under  the  ground  as 
above  it.  Nothing  but  the  tap  root  bores  its  way 
straight  down;  the  rootlets  and  feeders  spread  out  in 
every  direction,  something  in  the  shape  of  a  fan.  Hence 
if  some  of  these  roots  are  injured  the  tops  of  the  trees 
will  also  suffer.  Metaphorically,  the  roots  of  every 
tree  are  its  nerves,  which  can  not  be  interfered  with 
without  injuring  some  member  of  the  tree.  Eoot- 
pruning  is  often  practiced  when  taken  in  connection 
with  limb-pruning,  but  where  good,  strong  roots  are 
desired  top-  or  limb-pruning  is  beneficial.  But  the 
roots  alone  can  not  be  tampered  with  except  at  the 
expense  of  the  tree. 

In  the  case,  therefore,  of  too  much  ground  water, 
or  a  liability  to  raising  the  water  table,  drainage  tile 
should  at  once  be  put  in  at  least  five  feet  down,  not 
in  the  middle  of  the  rows,  but  comparatively  near  the 
trees,  as  far,  perhaps,  as  they  are  buried  underground. 
If  arranged  in  this  manner  they  will  serve  for  drainage 
and  also  for  sub-irrigation.  The  attention  of  the 
author  has  been  called  to  cases  where  the  subsoil  was 
originally  dry  down  for  a  hundred  feet,  and  there  was 
never  a  thought  of  the  possibility  of  a  water  table  ever 
forming.  But  it  did,  and  by  constant  irrigations  the 
.water  found  an  impervious  strata  and  then  began  to 
collect  and  form  a  water  table,  which  required  drainage 


Orchards,  Vineyards  and  Small  Fruits.  141 

in  the  course  of  less  than  five  years  from  the  time  of 
the  establishment  of  the  orchard. 

Furrow  irrigation  is  the  most  suitable,  however, 
in  most  orchards,  and  it  has  always  proved  adequate  to 
produce  excellent  crops.  But  the  furrows  must  run 
deep  and  the  after  cultivation  must  be  thorough  or 
evaporation  will  injure  the  plants.  Long  furrows  are 
to  be  avoided,  and  the  water  should  never  be  "rushed" 
through  them.  Short  furrows  and  a  slow  flow  will 
tend  to  soak  far  enough  down  into  the  soil  to  reach  the 
roots  and  far  enough  beyond  that  to  enable  the  capil- 
lary motion  to  have  a  supply  to  carry  up  into  the  ex- 
hausted portions  of  the  root  zone.  Three  good  irriga- 
tions during  the  season  are  ample  and  more  than  enough 
where  there  are  ten  inches  of  rainfall  and  a  supply  of 
underground  water  to  draw  upon.  This  can  be  ac- 
quired by  fall  and  winter  irrigation;  that  is,  running 
the  water  into,  not  upon,  the  land  after  the  leaves  have 
fallen  and  following  it  up  in  the  fall  by  deep  plowing, 
cultivation  and  harrowing.  Some  dig  a  basin  around 
their  apple  trees  in  the  fall,  and  when  freezing  weather 
comes  fill  the  basin  with  water  and  let  it  freeze.  They 
say  it  prevents  the  tree  from  blossoming  too  early  in 
the  spring.  Others  mulch  around  their  trees  heavily 
with  manure  to  keep  out  the  frost.  There  is  no  way  to 
reconcile  these  contradictory  practices  except  by  giving 
the  soil  moisture  in  the  fall  and  winter  and  thorough 
cultivation.  The  earth  will  be  a  sufficient  mulch  and 
the  moisture  will  freeze  soon  enough.  But  all  the  regu- 
lations in  the  world  can  not  prevent  the  tree  from  fol- 
lowing the  course  of  nature.  After  the  crop  is  gath- 
ered and  the  leaves  departed,  the  tree  still  goes  on 
preparing  for  the  coming  spring.  It  is  busily  engaged 
in  ripening  its  wood  and  storing  up  food  for  the  new 
buds,  and  ice  around  its  trunk  will  not  stop  it,  nor 


242  The  Primer  of  Irrigation, 

will  a  heavy  mulch  of  manure  prevent  it  from  freezing 
unless  the  entire  tree  is  enveloped  in  the  mulch. 

Constant  cultivation  and  the  stirring  or  mixing 
together  of  the  food  essentials  are  what  the  tree  needs 
and  demands,  and  when  this  is  done  and  the  compote 
of  organic  and  inorganic  elements  mixed  with  water 
all  that  man  can  do  is  done.  Care  should  be  exercised 
in  irrigating  when  the  trees  are  in  bud,  for  if  the  water 
reaches  them  while  in  flower  the  blossoms  will  fall  off, 
and  the  same  is  the  case  when  water  is  turned  on 
when  the  fruit  is  ripening.  In  the  case  of  apples, 
however,  the  fruit  may  be  made  to  attain  large  propor- 
tions by  copious  applications  of  water,  although  in  gen- 
eral the  application  of  water  at  the  time  of  ripening 
tends  to  loosen  the  stems  and  cause  the  fruit  to  drop  off 
before  fully  ripe. 

THE  VINEYARD. 

The  plan  adopted  by  the  vineyardists  of  France  to 
destroy  the  pest  of  the  phylloxera  demonstrated  that 
the  vine  is  no  tender  plant  which  requires  nursing. 
The  vineyards  were  flooded  and  the  vines  kept  under 
water  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period  until  tests  showed 
that  the  larva?  of  the  pest  was  extinct.  The  conver- 
sion of  the  vine  into  an  aquatic  plant  did  not  harm 
its  vitality,  although  a  crop  was  lost  through  over- 
much water. 

There  is  a  hint  in  this  result  worth  remembering. 
Too  much  water,  no  crop.  It  should  be  considered 
as  an  axiom  for  every  irrigator  to  carefully  observe. 

The  affliction  of  every  vineyard  is  an  excess  of 
water.  Grapes  love  a  warm  soil,  but  too  much  irri- 
gation, particularly  on  the  surface,  renders  the  soil 
cold  through  evaporation.  Wherever  there  is  evapora- 
tion cold  is  produced  and  the  more  rapid  the  evapora-* 
tion  the  greater  the  cold  and  the  stoppage  of  growth. 

During  the  first  two  years  of  the  growth  of  a 


Ort hards t  Vineyards  and  Small  Fruits.  243 

grapevine  the  greatest  care  must  be  bestowed  upon  it, 
particularly  the  second  year,  for  it  is  during  the  sec- 
ond year  that  the  cane  which  will  bear  the  fruit  is 
formed.  Cultivation  and  irrigation  are  the  main 
causes  of  a  good  crop ;  irrigate  every  two  weeks  if  the 
soil  shows  signs  of  dryness.  Like  all  fruit  moisture  in 
the  soil  is  absolutely  necessary,  and  if  this  is  supplied 
by  irrigation  it  must  be  followed  immediately  by 
thorough  cultivation  to  reduce  evaporation  to  a  mini- 
mum and  prevent  the  soil  from  becoming  cold. 

If  there  is  ground  water  there  should  be  drainage, 
the  same  as  in  the  orchard,  the  tiles  of  which  may  be 
used  for  sub-irrigation,  and  they  should  always  be  used 
for  that  double  purpose  when  needed.  In  the  latter  case 
if  the  moisture  in  the  soil  is  sufficient  no  irrigation  is 
necessary  until  the  fruit  is  forming.  As  in  the  case  of 
orchard  fruits,  never  irrigate  when  the  vine  is  in 
flower.  The  vine  roots  penetrate  to  a  great  depth  in  the 
soil,  and  therefore  deep  plowing  and  cultivation  is  advis- 
able. If  drainage  tile  are  laid  for  drainage  and  sub- 
irrigation  they  should  be  laid  near  the  main  roots,  so  as 
to  carry  off  the  excess  of  water  from  irrigation  on 
the  surface.  Where  surface  irrigation  is  practiced  it 
should  be  the  furrow  system  between  the  rows  and 
deep.  The  water  will  sink  deep  and  reach  the  roots, 
whereas  by  mere  surface  applications  the  thread  roots 
are  liable  to  rot  and  cause  damage.  The  usual  practice 
is  to  irrigate  when  the  grapes  are  about  to  ripen,  when 
they  will  fill  out  and  ripen  more  evenly.  In  the  finer 
varieties  of  grapes,  like  the  high-flavored  ones,  the 
Concord,  Muscat  of  Alexandria,  etc.,  water  should  be 
applied  more  sparingly  than  when  wine  is  to  be  manu- 
factured. Fall  and  winter  irrigation  is  the  same  as 
in  the  orchard,  but  care  must  be  taken  not  to  soak 
the  soil  by  applying  too  much  water  unless  it  can  be 
drained  off. 


244  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

SMALL  FRUITS. 

By  small  fruits  are  meant  blackberries,  raspber- 
ries, currants,  gooseberries,  etc.,  and  the  ground  vines, 
such  as  strawberries. 

The  bush  fruits  require  a  rich  and  highly-manured 
soil  to  attain  perfection,  although  they  will  grow  in  any 
soil  capable  of  growing  corn. 

They  require  plenty  of  water,  for  the  soil  must  be 
maintained  in  a  uniformly  moist  condition.  When 
blossoming,  irrigation  should  be  suspended,  but  re- 
newed every  week  or  ten  days  when  the  fruit  has  set. 
It  is  usual  to  irrigate  immediately  after  one  crop  has 
been  gathered,  the  water  hurrying  another  picking  to 
maturity. 

The  tendency  to  mildew  makes  small-fruit  growing 
somewhat  of  a  risk,  but  by  careful  pruning  to  let  in  the 
light  and  the  air  this  tendency  will  be  checked  and 
•the  berries  ripen  bright  and  clean. 

Constant  cultivation,  fall  and  winter  irrigation, 
as  in  the  case  of  other  fruits,  are  essential,  and  when 
drainage  is  adopted  the  perils  of  small-fruit  growing 
will  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

Strawberry  culture  may  be  carried  on  several 
months  during  the  summer  in  the  humid  regions  and 
all  the  year  'round  in  the  arid  or  semi-tropical  regions 
of  the  country. 

It  is  a  self-perpetuating  plant,  propagating  itself 
by  means  of  runners,  which  take  root  at  the  slightest 
provocation.  To  foster  this  habit  and  obtain  fresh 
plants  for  a  continuing  crop,  the  soil  must  be  kept  in 
a  fine,  pulverized  condition,  with  plenty  of  moisture 
near  the  surface.  The  plants  may  be  puddled  in  a 
small  ridge,  hollowed  to  receive  a  rill  of  water,  and 
when  the  runners  creep  over  the  ridge  into  the  paths 
a  little  water  run  in  will  aid  them  to  take  root.  The 
direction  of  their  growth  may  be  easily  controlled,  and 


Orchards,  Vineyards  and  Small  Fruits.  246 

when  they  have  taken  root  they  should  be  cut  loose 
from  the  parent  stem.  The  matted  bed  system  is  the 
best  for  irrigation,  for  the  leaves  cover  and  shade  the 
ground  and  prevent  evaporation.  When  the  fruit  is 
ripening  care  should  be  taken  when  irrigating  or  run- 
ning water  on  the  beds,  not  to  wet  the  fruit,  a  con- 
tingency which  tends  to  rot  them  before  they  can  be- 
come ripe. 

FORAGE  AND  FODDER  CROPS. 

These  crops  require  abundance  of  water  and  quick 
growth.  There  are  many  varieties  of  forage  plants, 
but  alfalfa  and  corn  will  always  be  the  standards — 
corn  for  the  silo  and  alfalfa  for  hay.  The  latter  will 
produce  from  three  to  five  full  crops  a  year  if  well  irri- 
gated, and  that  irrigation  is  by  flooding  in  large  fields 
as  well  as  small  ones.  Some  alfalfa  growers  do  not 
hesitate  to  turn  in  horses,  cows,  sheep  and  hogs  in 
their  order  to  pasture  the  alfalfa  patch  when  the  crop 
is  removed.  Then  water  is  run  on  the  field  and  per- 
mitted to  stand  a  week  before  being  run  off.  After 
that  nothing  more  is  done  until  the  crop  is  ready  to 
again  cut. 

Others  will  not  permit  pasturage  on  the  alfalfa 
field,  but  after  harvesting  it  flood  the  soil  with  water 
and  again  several  times  before  harvesting  again.  The 
rule  is  different  in  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions, 
more  water  and  less  care  being  given  it,  but  it  grows 
right  along  without  being  disturbed  by  inattention. 

All  forage  plants,  whether  corn  or  the  grasses, 
require  flooding  at  various  periods  of  their  growth. 
The  first  time  after  planting,  when  up  three  inches, 
when  half  grown  and  about  the  ripening  period.  Then 
after  the  harvest  the  ground  should  be  well  soaked  if 
it  is  desirable  to  use  the  land  for  pasturage,  the  after- 
harvest  irrigation  producing  a  good  growth  of  succu- 
lent grazing.  Fall  and  winter  irrigation  are  unneces- 
sary unless  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  soil  in  a 
moist  condition,  which  is  always  advisable  in  the  arid 
and  semi-arid  regions. 


246  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

APPENDIX. 

This  appendix  contains  land,  water,  and  power 
measurements,  and  other  information  for  reference  by 
the  reader. 

LAND    OR    SQUARE    MEASURE. 

144  spuare  inches  equal ....  1  square  foot. 

9  square  feet  equal 1  square  yard. 

3014  square  yards  equal ...  1  square  rod. 

40  square  rods  equal 1  rood. 

4  roods  equal 1  acre. 

SURVEYORS'  MEASURE. 

7.92  inches  equal 1  link. 

25  links  equal 1  rod. 

4  rods  equal 1  chain. 

10  square  chains  equal. . .  .1  acre. 

640  acres  equal 1  square  mile. 

CUBIC  MEASURE. 

1,728  cubic  inches  equal..  1  cubic  foot. 

27  cubic  feet  equal 1  cubic  yard. 

128  cubic  feet  equal 1  cord  of  wood. 

40  cubic  feet  equal 1  ton  (shipping). 

2,150.42  cubic  inches  equal .  1  standard  bushel. 
268.8  cubic  inches  equal. .  .1  standard  gallon. 

LIQUID  OR  WINE  MEASURE. 

4  gills  equal 1  pint. 

2  pints  equal 1  quart. 

4  quarts  equal 1  gallon. 

31%  gallons  equal 1  barrel. 

2  barrels  equal 1  hogshead. 

DRY   MEASURE. 

2  pints  equal 1  quart. 

8  quarts  equal 1  peck. 

4  pecks  equal 1  bushel. 

36  bushels  equal 1  chaldron. 


Appendix.  247 

AVOIRDUPOIS  WEIGHT. 

6  drams  equal 1  ounce. 

16  ounces  equal 1  pound. 

25  pounds  equal 1  quarter. 

4  quarters  equal 1  hundred  weight. 

20  hundredweights  equal ...  1  ton. 

THOY  WEIGHT. 

(For  Precious  Metals  and  Jewels.) 

1  pennyweight.  24  grains  equal 

1  ounce.                                20  pennyweights  equal .... 
1  pound.  L2  ounces  equal 


APOTHECARIES'  WEIGHT. 

20  grains  equal 1  scruple. 

3   scruples   equal 1  dram. 

8  drams  equal 1  ounce. 

12  ounces  equal 1  pound. 

METRIC  SYSTEM  OF  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES. 

The  nickel  five-cent  piece  is  the  key  to  the  metric 
system  of  linear  measures  and  weights.  The  diameter 
of  the  nickel  is  two  centimeters  exactly,  and  its  weight 
five  grammes.  Five  of  them  placed  in  a  row  give  the 
length  of  the  decimeter,  and  two  of  them  will  weigh 
a  dekagram.  As  the  kiloliter  is  a  cubic  meter,  the  key 
to  the  measure  of  length  is  also  the  key  to  the  meas- 
ure of  capacity. 


The  Metric  System  was  legalized  la  the  United  States  on  July  28, 1966,  wbeo  Co 


1  "The  tables  In  the  aphedule  hereto  annexed  shall  be  recognized  In  the  construction  of  contract!, 
and  la  all  legal  proceedings,  M  establishing,  in  terras  of  the  weight*  and  measures  now  in  u»e  ID  the 
United  States,  the  equivalents  of  the  weights  and  measures  expressed  therein  in  term*  of  the  metric 
system,  and  the  tables  may  lawfully  be  used  for  computing,  determining,  and  •XPfvann*  to  oottonv 
try  weight*  and  measures  the  weights  and  measures  oftae  wetrtc  system?" 

TbtloUowiog  are  the  tables  annexed  to  the  above; 


248 


Tht  Primer  of  Irrigation. 


MJUSUBXS  or  LSNOTU. 


Metric  Denominations  and  Valued 

Fantvalents  Irt  Denominations  In  U»e. 

Hyrlamelre  ....................  ._.™ 
Kilometre  _..~~. 

10,  000  met  reai 
1.000  metres. 
100  metres. 
10  metres 
1  metre. 
1-10  of  a  metre. 
1-10O  of  a  metre. 
l-100Oof  ametre. 

6.2137    miles. 
0.62137  mile,  or  3,  280  feet  10  Inches. 
328            feet  1  Inch. 
393.7          Inches. 

Oi0394    Incbi 

Centimetre  „_.. 
Millimetre.  ...«..M..n.»«....H 

MKA8UBK8  OF  SURFACK 


Metric  Denominations  and  Values. 

Equivalents  In  Denominations  In  Use. 

Hectare— 
Are  — 
Cm  tare  — 

„„..  10.  000  square  metres. 
_  _.,_        100  square  metres. 
—  ..           1  square  metre. 

2.471  acres. 
119.6      square  yards. 

1,600         square  laches 

MEASUUKS  OF  CAPACITY. 


MKTBIO  DXNOUCNATIOX*  AMD  VALUUL 


Al-BNT*  m  DlCNOMINATlONB  IN 


l>ryMo 


Liquid  or  Wine  Measure. 


cubic  metre-....™....., 
-10  of  a  cubic  met  re.  ~~. 
0  cubic  decimei  res 
cubic  decimetre- 


centimetres „ 

lOOOil  cubic  ceutiinetre 


1. 3O8  cubic  yards 

and  3. 35  pocks.. 


264.17      callous. 


. 

1.0667  quarts. 
O.845    gill. 
fluid 


METBJC  DENOMINATIONS  AKD  VALUES. 


1.000, 


cubic  metre- 

hectolitre 

0  litres. 

litre    .«. 

decilitre...'. 
0  cubic  centimetr 

cubic  centimetre _ 

-10  of  a  cubic  centimetre. 


Avoirdupois  Weight 


2204.6        pounds. 
•220. 46     pounds, 
pounds. 
I  pounds. 
74  ounces. 
0.3527  ounce. 
15.432    grains. 
1.6432  grain*. 


Practical  Measurements!  249 


PRACTICAL   MEASUREMENTS. 
•Tp  ASCERTAIN*  THE  WEIGHT  OF  CATTLE— Meawe  the  girt 

close  behind  the  shoulder,  and  the  length  from  the" fore  part  of  tfccT  shoulder-blade' 
alpng  the  back  to  the  bone  at  the  tail,  which  is  in  a  vertical  line  with  the  buttock, 
..both  in  feet  Multiply  the  square  of  the  girt,  expressed  in  feet,  by  ten  times  the 
length,  and  divide  the  product  by  three;  the  quotient  is  the  weight,  nearly,  of  the 
fore  quarters,  in  pounds  avoirdupois.  It  is  to  be"  observed,  however,  that  in  very  fat 
cattle  the  fore  quarters  wall  be  at>out  one-twentieth  more,  while  in  those  in  a  very 
lean  state  they  will  be  one-twentieth  less  than  the  weight  obtained  by  the  rule. 

RULES  FOR  MEASURING  CORN  IN  CRIB,  VEGETABLES,  ETC., 

AND  HAY  IN  Mow— This  rule  will  apply  to  a  crib  of  any  size  or  kind.  Two  cubic 
feet  of  good,  sound,  dry  corn  in  the  ear  will  make  a  bushel  of  shelled  corn.  To  get, 
then,  the  quantity  of  shelled  corn  in 'a  crib  of  corn  in  the  ear,  measure  the  length, 
breadth  and  height  of  the  crib,  inside  the  rail;  multiply  the  length  by  the.  breadth 
and  the  product  by  the  height,  then  divide  the  product  by  two,  and  you  have  the 
Dumber  of  bushels  of  shelled  corn- in  the  crib. 

To  find  the  number  of  bushels  of  apples,  potatoes,  etc.,  in  a  bin,  multiply  the 
length,  breadlh'and  thickness  together,  and  this  product  by  eight,  and  point  off  one 
figure  in  the  product  for  decimals.  •'  -  -  •  ?  •=•••-  :  -•  - 

.  T«  find  the  amount  of  hay  in  a  mow,  allow  512  cubic  feet  for  a  ton,  and  it  will 
Some  out  very  generally  correct  -  '^  j  • 

To  MEASURE  BULK  WOOD— rTo  measure  a  pile  of  woddl. 

multiply  the  length  by  the  width,  and  that  product  by  the  height,  which  will  give 
the  number  of  cubic  feet.  Divide  that  product  by  128,  xand  the  quotient  will  be  the 
number  of  cords.  A  standard  cord  of  wood,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  four  feet 
thick;  that  is.  the  wood  must  be  four  feet  long. .  Farmers  usually  go  by  surface 
measure,  calling  a  pile  of  stove  wood  eight  feet  long  and  four  feet  high  a  cord.  Un- 
der such  circumstances  thirty-two  feet  would  be  the  divisor.  -  ,  -  ;  ^  :  r,  •-/ 

How^  TO    MEASURE   A  TR^E — Very  many  persons,  when 

looking  for  a  stick  of  timber,  are  at  a  loss  to  estimate  either  the  height  of  theatres  or 
the  length  of  timber  it  will  cut  The  following  rule  will  enable  any  one  to  approxU 
mate  nearly  to  the  length  from  the  ground  to  any  position  desired  on  the  tree:  Take 
a  stake,  say  six  feet  in  length,  and  place  it  against  the  tree  you  wish  to  measure. 
Then  step  back  some  rods,  twenty  or  more  if  yOu  can,  from  which  to  do  the  meas- 
uring. At  this  point  a  light  pole  and  a  measuring  rule  are  required.  The  po»d  is 
raised  between  the  eyes  and  the  tree,  and  the  rule  is  brought  into  position  against 
the  pole.  Then  by  sighting  an<i  observing  what  length  of  the  rule,  is  required  to 
cover  the  stake  at  the  tree,  and  what  the  entire  tree,  dividing  the.,  latter  length  by 
the  formec/and  multiplying  by  the  number  of  feet  the  stake  is  long,  you  reach  the 
approximate  height  of  the  tre*?.  For  example,  if  the  stake  at  the  tree  be  six  feet 
above  ground  and  one  inch  '.n  your  rule  corresponds  exactly  with  this,  and  if  then 
the  entire  height  of  the  tre'  corresponds  exactly  with  say  nine  inches  on  the  rule, 
jthis  would  show  the  tree  to  possess  a  full  height  of  fifty-four  feet  In  practice  u 
will  thus  be  found  an  easy  matter  to  learn  the  approximate  height  of -any  tree., 
building,  or  other  such  object. 

To  MEASURE  CASKS  OR  BARRELS — 'Kind  mean  diameter  by 

adding  to  head  diameter  two-thirds  (if  staves  are  but  slightly  curved,  three-fifths)  of, 
difference  between  head  and  bung  diameters,  and  dividing  by  two.  Multiply  square 
of  mean  diameter  in  inches  by  .7854,  and  the  product  by  the  height  of  the  cask  in 
-inches.  The  result  will  be  the  number  of  cubic  inches.  Divide  by  231  for  standard 
or  wine  gallons,  and  by  282  for  beer  gallons. 

GRAIN  MEASURE — To  find  the  capacity  of  a  bin  or  wagon-: 

bed,  multiply  the  cubic  feet  by  .8  (tenths).  For  great  accuracy,  add  J$-of  a  busbjel 
for  every  100  cubic  feet.  To  $nd  the  cubic  feet,  multiply  the  length,  width  OKI 


250 


The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 


To  MEASURE  CORN  OR  SIMILAR  COMMODITY  ON  A 
— Pile  up  the  commodity  in  the  form  of  a  cone;  find  the  diameter 
in  feet;  .multiply  the  square  of  the  diameter  by  .7854,  and  the 
product  by  one-third  the.  height  of  the  cone  in  feet;-from  this  last 
product  deduct  one-fifth  of  itself,  or  multiply  it  by  .803564,  anfl 
the  result  will  be  the  number  of.  bushels. 

CAPACITY    OF    CYLINDRICAL    CISTERNS    OR    TANKS    FOB 

EACH  FOOT  OF  DEPTH   (UNITED  STATES  GALLONS) 

FROM  TWO  TO  FORTY   FEET  IN   DIAMETER. 

CAPACITY  OF  DRAIN-P1PE. 


SIZE  OF 
Pn*. 

GALLONS  PER  MINUTE. 

J£  in.  Fall 
per  100  feet. 

3-in.  Fall 
per  100  feet. 

.Ji 

*  I 

9-in,  Fait 
per  100  feet 

12-in.  Fall 
•Ijer  HjO  feet. 

21 

.si 

a  & 

11 

«i 
*fc 

36-in.  Fall 
per  IQD  feet. 

3-inch. 
4  « 
6  « 
9  " 
12  " 
15  " 
18  " 
20  " 

21 

30 
84 
232 
470 
830 
1300 
1760 

30 
52 
120 
330 
080 
1180 
1850 
2450 

42 

76 
*69 
470 
960 
1«80 
2630 
3450 

52 

92 

206 
570 
1160 
2040 
3200 
4180 

60 
108 
240 
660 
1360 
2370 
3740 
48GO 

74 
?132 

294 
810 
1670 
2920 
4oOO 
5980 

85 
148 
338 
930 
1920 
3340 
5270 
6S50 

101 
184 
414 
1140 
2350 
4100 
6470 
8410 

Diameter 
in  feet 

2^0 
2.5 

Gallons 

Pdunds 

Diameter 
in  feet 

Gallon^, 

Pounds 

23.5 

196 

9-0 

475.9 

3.968 

36.7 

306 

9.5 

530.2 

4.421 

3.0 

52.9 

441 

iO.O 

587.5 

4.899 

3.5 

72.0 

600 

ILO 

710.9 

5.928 

*•$• 

94.0 

784 

12.0 

846.0 

7.054 

4£5 

U9.0 

992 

U.O 

992.9 

8.280 

5.0 

146.1 

J.225 

14.0 

1.151.5 

9.602 

5.5 

177,7 

1.482 

15.0 

1.321.9» 

11.023 

6.0 

211.5 

1,764 

20.0 

2.350.1 

19.596 

6.5 

248.2 

2-.070 

25.0 

3.672.0  * 

30.620 

7.0 

287.9 

2.401 

30.0 

5.287.7 

44.093 

7.5 

330.5 

2*756 

35.0 

7.197.1 

60.016 

8.0 

376.0 

3.135 

40.0 

9.400.3 

78.388       j 

8.5 

424.6 

3.540 



Practical  Measurements. 


251 


For  square  or  rectangular  tanks,  multiply  the 
length  and  breadth  and  depth  together  to  get  cubic 
feet,  then  multiply  by  1,728  to  get  cubic  inches,  and 
this  product,  divided  by  231,  the  number  of  cubic 
inches  in  a  gallon,  will  give  the  number  of  gallons. 

QUANTITY    OF    WATER    DISCHARGED    PER    STROKE    BY    A 
SINGLE  ACTING  PUMP. 

The  first  column  of  figures  indicates  the  diameter 
of  the  pump  cylinder  in  inches.  The  second  column 
gives  the  area  of  the  cylinder. 


Area 
Square 
Inches 


LENGTH  OP  STROKE  IN  INCHES 


-ii-L 


Capacity  per  Stroke  in  Gallons 


:7i1 

1.227 
1485 
1.767 
2405 
3.142 
3.976 


7.069 
8.296 
11.045 
12566 
14186 
17721 
19.635 
21.648 
25967 
28274 
80.680 
35785 
38485 

•44.179 
47.173 
50266 
66.745 
63617 
70.882 
78.540 
95.033 

113.098 


.0017 
.0070 
.0100 
.0130 
.0150 
.0210 
.0270 
.0340 
.0420 
.0510 
.0610 
.0720 
.0950 
.1090 
.1230 
.1530 
.1700 
.1870 
.2250 
.2450 
.2660 
.31'K) 


.4350 
.4900 
.5510 
.6120 


.0026 
.0100 
.0160 
.0190 
.0230 
.0310 
.0410 
.0510 
.0640 
.0770 
.0920 
.1080 
.1430 
.1630 
.1840 
.2300 
.2550 
.2810 
.3370 
.8670 
.3980 
.4650 
.6000 
.5740 
.6120 
.6530 
.7350 
.8260 
.9180 
1.0200 
12340 
1.4680 


.0310 
.0410 
.0540 


.1220 
.1430 
.1910 
.2170 
.2450 
.3070 
.3400 
.3750 
.4500 
.4900 
.5310 


1.6450  2.057 
1.9580  2448 


.154 
.184 
.215 
.287 

il 

.400 
.510 
.562 
.674 
.734 
.797 
.9-29 
1.000 
1.148 

1306 
1.470 
1.652 


2.464 
2.938 


.979 
1.062 
1.239 


.690 
.765 
.843 
1.011 
1.101 
1.195 
1394 
1.499 
1.721 
1837 
1.958 


.064 
.077 
.104 
.136 
.172 
.213 
.257 
.306 
.359 
.478 
.544 
.614 
.767 
.S50 
.937 
1  r>4 
1  --J4 
1.3J8 
1.549 


1.124 
1.348 

1.469 
1593 
1.858 
1.999 
2295 
2450 
2.611 
2940 
3.305 
367-2 


.012  .013 
.048  .051 
.074  .080 


.115 
.15ft 

.204 
.258 
,319 


.717 
.815 
.921 


1.992 
2.323 


7344 


for  strokes,  two,  three  or  any  number  of  times  the  lengths  given  above,  the  capacities  may 
Be  found  by  simply  multiplying  the  number  of  times,  into  the  quantities  per  stroke  given  above. 
.Doubling  the  diameter  of  pipe  or_£yjlnder  increases  its  capacityJeiU-ltmc^ 


252 


The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 


QUANTITY  Or  WATER  OICHARGED  AND  POWER  ACQUIRED 

At  different  elevations  based  on  a  Pump  efficiency  of  50  per  cent 


Uftitf 
feet 


M  H.  P.{  IH. P.  [  8H.  P.  [  5H. P.  I  7H.  P.  [10  H.  P.[l5  H.  P.[20  H.  P.|30  H.  P.J40  H.  P.J50  H.  P. 


GALLONS  PER  MINTJTB 


000 


4000 


2000 
1666 
1428 
1250 
1111 
1000 
800 
666 


Doubling  the  lift  or  quantity  of  water  handled  also  doubles  power  required;  i..  «,  power  r« 
cnired  varies  directly  a*  either  lift  or  quantity. 


MEAD  OF  WATER  IN  FEET  ANJQ  THE 

EQUIVALENT  PRESSURE 

IN  POUNDS 


Feet 
Head 

Lbs. 
Press. 

Feet 
Head 

Lbs. 
Press. 

Feet 
Head 

Lbs. 
Press. 

5 

2.17 

70 

30.3 

200- 

86  6 

B 

4.33 
6.50 

80 
90 

3J.6 
390 

250 

300 

108.2 
129.9 

20 

8.66 

100 

43.8 

350 

151.5 

35 

10.83 
12.99 
15.16 

110 

47.6 

52.0 

f>6  3 

400 

50) 
«00 

173.2 

1?4-| 

17.32 

140 

60.6 

700 

303.1 

45 

19.49 

150 

65.0 

800 

rvjii.4 

SO 

21.65 

160 

69.2 

000 

389.7 

60 

£6.09 

180 

78.0 

ibou 

13-iQ 

PRESSURE  OP  WATER  IN  POUNDS 

ANDtHE  EQUIVALENT  HEAD 

IN  FEET 


Lbs. 

Press. 

Feet 
Head 

Lbs. 
Press. 

Feet  | 
Head; 

Lbs. 
Press. 

Feet 
Head 

"  r> 

11.5 

70 

161.6: 

180 

415.6 

230 
31.6 

80 
90 

184.7  1 
207.8  j 

190 
200 

438.9 
4«1.7 

20 

40.2 

100 

225 

519.5 

25 

f>7.7 

no 

203*9  J 

250 

577.2 

8 

35 

69.3 

80.8 

120 
130 

300  '.1  ! 

275 
300 

it? 

40 

92.3 

140 

323.2 

325 

7504 

45 

103  9 

150 

346.3 

350 

808.1 

50 

115.4 

160 

3fi9.-1 

400 

922.  ft 

£0 

m.a 

170 

3U2.S 

8W 

1154.6 

TASLE  FOR  OPEN  WEIR  MEASUREMENT 

Giving  Cubic  Peel  of  water  per  minute,  that  willJow  over  an  open  Weir  ojje  inch  wide  and  from 
•'/»  to  20?S  inches  deep. 


INCHBS, 

54 

| 

N 

H 

i, 

K 

K 

.00 

.01 

.05 

.09 

.14 

.1!) 

""""     26 

.32 

.40 

.47 

.55 

.73 

.82 

.92 

102 

1.13 

1.23 

135 

1.46 

1.58 

170 

1.82 

195 

• 

207 

221 

234 

2  48 

261 

276 

2.90 

305 

x 

320 

3.35 

8.50 

MB 

3.81 

397 

4  14 

430 

6 

4.47 

464 

481 

4.98 

515 

533 

6.51 

669 

6 

587 

606 

6.25 

644 

662 

C82 

701 

7.21 

7 

740 

7.60 

7.80 

801 

821 

8.42 

863 

8.83 

6 

905 

926 

947 

969 

991 

1013 

1035 

1057 

9 

1080 

1102 

1125 

11.48 

1171 

11  91 

12.17 

12.41 

10 

1264 

12.88 

1312 

l:l  36 

1360 

1385 

14  09 

14.34 

11 

1459 

1484 

1509 

1534 

1559 

15.85 

16.11 

16.36 

12 

1662 

16.88 

17  15 

1741 

1767 

1794 

1821 

1847 

•      18 

1874 

1929 

1956 

19.84 

20.11 

20.39 

2067 

14 

2095 

21  23 

2151 

21  80 

22.08 

2237 

22.65 

2294 

15 

23.23 

2352 

23.82 

2411 

2440 

24.70 

2500 

25  3C 

16 

25.60 

§.90 

2620 

2650 

26.80 

2711 

27.42 

2772 

17 

28.03 

34 

2865 

2897 

2928 

29.59 

2991 

80.22 

18 

8054 

.86 

31.18 

SI  50 

3182 

3->  15 

32.47 

3-280 

19 
20 

83.12 
35.77 

8345 
36.11 

33.78 
3645 

34.11 

36.78 

34  44      1      34  77 
37  12      [     87.46 

iflo0 

nit 

aking  Weir  measurements,  place  a  board  or  plank  in  the  stream  at  the  point  so  that  • 

pond  will  form  above  it.  A  rectangular  notch  is  cut  in  ii  large  enough  so  that  all  the  water  will 
now  over  the  notch.  The  length  of  the  notch  should  be  from  two  to  four  times  its  depth.  The 
edges  should  be  beveled  to  slope  outward  in  the  direction  of  the  flow  of  the  water.  In  the  pond 
about  six  feet  above  the  Weir  a  stake  is  driven  so  that  its  top  is  precisely  level  with  the  bottom 
Of  the  notch,  and  at  some  convenient  point  for  measuring.  The  depth  of  the  water  flowing  over 
Ue  Weir  may  then  be  ascertained  by  an  ordinary  mle.  placed  on  top  of  the  Stake,  measuring 
tetbtfUTfectof  the  water,  and  the  quantity  figured  from  the  ttble  abovr 


Hydraulic  Information. 
IRRIGATION  QUANTITY  TABLES 


253 


Amount  cf  water  reqeured  to  cover 
one  acre  to  given  depths. 

Second  Peet  reduced  to  Gallons  and 
Acre  Feet 

cover  a  given  num- 
ber of  acre*  to  • 
depth  of  one  foot 

Depth  in  inch-l 
es  and  feet. 
(Acre  inches 
audacre  feet.) 

teii 

li 

Gallons. 

Second  feet. 

Gallons  per 
minute. 

Gallons  per 
pumping  day 
of  12  hour*. 

1 

3£o 

Acres  (or  num- 
ber of  acre 
feet.) 

1 

lin. 
2  in. 
3  in. 
4  in. 
din. 

3630 
7260 
10890 
14520 
18150 
21780 

27154 
54309 
81463 
108617 
135771 
162926 

k 

112.2 
224.4 
336.6 
448.8 
561.0 
673.2 

80790 
161579 
242369 
323158 
403948 
484738 

.2479 
.4959 
.'7438 
.9917 
12397 
14876 

2 
3 

4 
6 
6 

325851 

651703 
977554 
1303406 
1629257 
1955109 

25410 

190080 

785.5 

565527 

17355 

7 

2280960 

Sin. 
9  in. 
10  in. 
11  in. 
1  ft.,  00  in. 
1ft.,  2  in. 
1ft..  4  in. 
1ft..  6  in. 
1ft,  Sin. 
1  ft,  10  in. 
2  ft..  00  in. 

29040 
32670 
36300 
39930 

s 

58080 
65340 
V2600 
79860 
87120 

217234 
244389 
271542 
298697 
325851 
380160 
434469 
488777 
543086 
697394 
651703 

T 

7 
8 
9 
10 
20 

897.7 
1122.1 
1346.5 
17953 
2244.2 
26930 
3141.8 
3590.6 
4039.5 

S£i 

646317 

607896 
969475 
1292634 
1615792 
1938951 
2262109 
2586268 
2908426 
3231585 
6463170 

19835 
2.4793 
29752 
3.9669 
49586 
59503 
69421 
79338 
89255 
9.9173 
19.8345 

10 
15 
20 
26 
30 
40 
60 
80 
160 

3268515 
4887772 
6512029 
814628ft 
9775544 
1303405ft 
19561087 

ESS 

One  cubic  foot  of  water  per  second  (exact  7.48052  gallons),  constant  flow  is  known  as  the 
'•Second  Foot"  The  "Acre  Foot"  is  the  quantity  of  water  required  to  cov«r  one  acre  to  a  depth 
Of  one  foot. 

MISCELLANEOUS  HYDRAULIC   INFORMATION,  BTO. 

A  common  water  pail  holds  nineteen  pounds  of 
water,  or  2.272  United  States  gallons. 

One  horse-power  will  raise  16%  tons  per  minute  a 
height  of  12  inches,  working  8  hours  a  day.  This  is 
about  9,900  foot-tons  daily,  or  12  times  a  man's  work. 

In  Designing  Hydraulic  and  Pumping  Hachinery,  water  is  considered  aa 

Incompressible. 

"Head"— By  "Head"  is  meant  the  actual  elevation  from  the  surface  of  suc- 
tion water  to  highest  point  of  discharge,  plus  the  friction  head,  caused  by  flow  of 
water  through  suction  and  discharge  piping— often  referred  to  simply  as  "lift"  or 
-suction  lift"  and  "discharge  lift.1  • 

"Pressure"— To  find  the  pressure  due  to  the  head,  when  water  is  at  rest 
simply  multiply  the  vertical  height  in  feet,  of  the  column  of  water,  by  .434.  A 
quicker  way  to  approximate  is  to  divide  the  vertical  height  in  feet,  by  2.  The  re- 
sult is  the  pressure  in  pounds  per  square  inch  oo  retaining  walls  at  bottom  of 
water  column,  or  plunger  load. 

A  Double-Acting  Pump  discharges  water  on  both  forward  and  backward 
motions  of  piston,  and  has  double  the  capacity  Of  a  Single-acting  Pump. 

A  Triplex  Pump  is  a  three-cylinder  Pump.  The  Cylinders  are  either  Single 
or  Double-acting.  The  discharge  of  a  Triplex  Pump  is  practically  uniform  and 
without  pulsation. 

To  Find  the  Circumference  of  a  Circle:    Multiply  the  diameter  by  3.1416. 

Finding  Capacities:— Of  a  Single-acting  Pump:  Multiply  the  square  of  the 
Cylinder  diameter  in  inches  by  .7654,  and  by  the  length  of  stroke  id  inches.  Tbb< 
product  divided  by  231  gives  the  capacity  in  gallons  per  stroke.  Doubling  tot  dl-, 
CjJJnder  increases  its  capacity  four  times, 


254  The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 

,  To  And  the  number  of  gallons  In  a  tank,  multiply  the  lnsTxJeH5ottom~"diameter 
in  inches  by  the  inside  top  diameter  in  inches,  then  this  product  by  34,  point 
off  four  figures,  and  the  result  will  be  the  average  number  of  gallons  to  onfi 
inch  in  depth  of  tank. 

For  the  circumference  of  a  circle,'  multiply  the  diameter  by  3.14fb. 

For  the  diameter  of  a  circle,  multiply  the  circumference  by  .31381. 

For  the  area  of  a  circle,  multiply  the  square  of  the  diameter  by  .7854. 

For  the  size  of  an  equal  square,  multiply  the  diameter  by  .8862. 

For  the,  surface  of  a  ball,  multiply  the  square  of  the  diameter  by  3.1416.N 

For  the  cubic  inches  in  a  ball,  multiply  the  cube  of  thj  diameter  by  .5236* 

SHORT  FORMULAS  FOR  PUMP  CAPACITY  AND  POWER 

D-Diameter  of  Pump  Cylinder  in  inches.       S-Length  of  stroke  in  inches.      . 

N— Number  of  strokes  per  minute.  Q-Quantity  of  water  in  gallons,  raised  per  minute 

H-ToUl  height,  in  feet,  water  is  elevated,  figuring  from  surface  of  suction  water  to  highett  point 

THEN  WE  HAVE 

O»  x  .7854  -The  Area  of  a  Circle  (or  Cylinder)  of  given  diameter. 

fc*  x  S  x  .7864      —Capacity  of  Pump  in  cubic  inches,  per  stroke. 
••Capacity  of  Pump  per  stroke  in  gallons. 

—Capacity  of  Pump  per  stroke  in  cubic  feet 
—Capacity  of  Pump  per  stroke  in  pouuds  of  water. 
N~CaPacily  of  P"™?  P«r  minute  in  cubic  inches. 
•"Capacity  of  Pump  per  minute  in  gallons.  (—  Q). 
-Capacity  of  Pump  per  minute  in  cubic  feet 
£>»  x  H  x  .3409     —Total  pressure  in  pounds  on  the  Pump  Cylinder  when  at  rest    When  at  wortk, 

add  for  pipe  friction  as  determined  from  tables  elsewhere. 
.Number  of  strokes  per  minute  necessary  to  raise  a  given  quantity  of  water  iw 

gallons. 
The  above  formulas  will  frfve  result*  correct  to  the  third  decimal  place. 


How  to  Use  Cement.  256 

HOW  TO  USE  CEMENT. 

The  following  general  rules  referring  to  the  practical  use  of 
cement  vrill  be  found  convenient  for  reference: 

Quality  of  Sand— The  sand  should  be  clean,  sharp  and  coarse.  When  the  sanfl 
is  mixed  with  loam  the  mortar  will  set  comparatively  slow,  and 'the  work  will  be 
comparatively  weak.  Fine  sand,  and  especially  water-worn  sand,  delays  the  set- 
ting of  the  cement,  and  deteriorates  strength.  Damp  sand  should  not  be  mixed 
with  dry  cement,  but  the  cement  and  sand  should  be  mixed  thoroughly  and  uni- 
formly tbgether.  when  both  are  dry,  and  no  water  should  be  applied  until  imme- 
diately before  the  mortar  is  wanted  for  use. 

Proportion  of  Sand— The  larger  the  proportion  of  cement  the  stronger  the 
work.  One  part  of  good  cement  to  two  parts  sand  is  allowable  for  ordinary  work; 
but  for  cisterns,  cellars,  and  work  requiring  special  care,  half  and  half  is  the  better 
proportion.  For  floors,  the  cement  should  be  increased  toward  the  surface. 

Water  In  Concrete— Use  no  more  water  in  cement  'than  absolutely  necessary. 
Cement  requires  but  a  very  small  quantity  of  water  in  crys.alizing.  Merely  damp- 
ening the  material  gives  the  best  results.  Any  water  in  excess  necessarily  evapor- 
ates and  leaves  the  hardened  cement  comparatively  weak  and  porous. 

Concrete  In  Water — Whenever  concrete  is  used  udder  water,,  care  must  be 


the  force  of  currents,  or  pressure  of  water,  but  will  resist  currents  and  pressure  aftef 
hardening  only.    In  still  water,  good  cement  will  harden  quieker  than  in  air,  and 


when  kept  in  water  will  be  stronger  than  when  kept  in  air.    Cements  which  harden 
especially  quick  in  air  are  usually  slow  or  worthless  in  water. 
How  to  Put  Down  Concrete— When  strong  work  is  wanted,  for  cellar  floors 


and'all  similar  work,  the  concrete  should  be  dampened  and  tamped  down  to  place, 
with  the  back  of  a  spade,  or  better,  with  the  end  of  a  plank  or  rammer;  then  finished 
off  with  a  trowel,  thus  leveling  and  compacting  the  work.  Onlypers6ns  ignor- 
ant of  the  business  will  lay  a  floor  or  walk  with  soft  cement  mortar.  All  artificial 
stone  is  made  in  a  similar  way  to  that  described,  and,  when  set,  is  strong  and  hard 
as  stone. 

Delay  in  Use— Do  not  permit  the  mortar  to  exhaust  its  setting  properties  by  de- 
laying its -use  when  ready.  Inferior  cements  only  will  remain  standing  in  the  niortar- 
bed  any  length  of  time  without  serious  injury. 

Stone  and  Brick  Work— In  buildings  constructed  of  stone  or  brick,  the  best 
protection  from  dampness  and  decay,  and  also  from  the  danger  of  cyclones,  is  a 
mortar  of  cement  and  coarse  sand.  The  extra  cost  is  inconsiderable,  and  the  in- 
creased value  of  the  structure  very  great.  Chimneys  laid  in  this  manner  never  blow- 
down,  and  cellar^,  whose  foundations  are  thus  laid  are  always  free  from  atmospheric- 
moisture.  Cement  may  also  be  mixed  with  lime  mortar  for  plastering  and  other 
purposes,  to  great  advantage. 

Effect  of  Frost  and  Cold— At  a  temperature  less  than  60  degrees  Fahrenheit, 
all  good  cement  sets  slowly,  though  surely,  but  if  allowed  to  Graze  ita  vajue  is  seri- 
ously impaired.  In  cold  weather  or  cold  water  do  not  fear  IdVait  for  your  concrete 
tocrystalize. 

Damage  from  Moisture— Good  cement  is  not  injured  by  age.  if  carefully  pre- 
served from  moisture.  Lumps  in  bags  or  barrels  of  cement  are  caused  by  exposure 
to  moistpre.  They  prove  the  originally  good  quality  of  the  cement. 


250 


The  Primer  of  Irrigation. 


WEATHER  FORECASTS. 


Almanac  predictions  can  be  nothing  but  conjecturtf,  the 
earth's  subjection  -to  man/  unknowable  and  undeterminable 
forces  rendering  such  calculations,  impossible.  It  is  practicable, 
however,  by.  the  following  rules,  drawn  from  actual  results 
during  very  manjjr  years  and  appfled  with  due  regard  to  the  sub- 
jects of  solar  and  lunar  attraction  with  reference  to  this 
planet,  to  foresee  the  kind  of  weather  most  likely  to  follow  the 
•moon's  change  of  phase. 

PROGNOSTICATIONS. 


If  New  Mooh  First  Qr.,  Full 
Moon  or  Last  Qr.  happens 


In  Summer 


In  Winter. 


Between  midnight  and  2  A.M. 

4  " 

6  " 

8  " 

10  " 

12  " 

2  P.M., 

6  " 
8  *' 
10  " 

midn't 


Fair     

Cold  and  showers 

Rain.. 

Wind'an'd  rain 

Changeable 

Frequent  showers.  „'. . . 

Very  rainy 

Changeable  ...... 

Fair. » 

Fair  if  wind  N.  W.... 
Rainy  if  S.  orS.  W... 
Fair 


Frost,  unless  wrnd  is  S.  W. 

Snow  and  stormy. 

Rain. 

Stormy. 

Cold  rain  if  wind  W.,  snow  if 

Cold  and  high  wind.         [£. 

Snow  or  rain. 

Fair  and  mild. 

Fair.  [E. 

Fair  'and  frosty  if  wind  N  .or  N. 

Rain  or  snow  if  S.  or  S.  W. 

Fair  and  frosty. 


OBSERVATIONS.—  ,  The  nearer  the  moon's  change,  first  quarter,  full  and  last 
uarter  to  ntidnigh    the  fairer  will  be  the  weather  during  the  next  seven  days, 
a.  The  space  for  this  calculation  occupies  from  ten  at  night  ttli-two  next  merning. 

3.  The  nearer  to  midday  or  noon  the  phase  of  the  moon  happens,  the,,  more  foul 
or  wet  weather  maybe  expected  during  the  next  seven  days 

4.  The  space  for  this  calculation  occupies  from  ten  in  the  forenoon1  io*wo  in  the 
afternoon.    These  observations  refer  principally  to  summer,  thoUgh  ihe"y  affe6< 
spring  and  autumn  in  the  same  ratio.  ._    - 

5.  The  moon's  change,  first  quarter,  full  and'  last  quarter  happerinijj  during  six 
of  the  afternoon  hour",  /'.  e.,  from  four  to  ten,  may  be  followed  by  fair-weather,  but 
this  is  mostly  dependent  on  the  wind  as  is  noted  in  the  table. 

6.  Though  the  weather,  from  a  variety  of  irregular  causes. is  more  uncertain  in  the 
latter  part  of  autumn,  the  whole  of  winter  snd  the  begtnn ing  f  of  spring,  .ye't.  in  the 
main,  the  abpve  observations  wiH  apply  to  these  periods  also    .  , 

:  7.  To  prognosticate  correctly,  especially 'in  those  cases  where  the  wind  is  con* 
cemed,  the  observer  sholild  be  within  sight  of  a  »a»t  where  ihe  four  cardinal 
points  of  the  compass  are  correctly  placed 


General  Information.  257 

POWER  REQUIRED  TO  RAISB  WATBRi  To  find  the  Theoretical  Horse  fowr  to Mfarf 
. :e r.  multiply  the  Gallons  pumped  per  Minute  by  the  Head  In  feet  and  divide  the  product  by 
»  and  the  result  will  be  the  Theoretical  Power  required.  Double  the  Theoretical  Power  aJiouW 

allowed  to  do  the  work,  although  the  better  grades  of  Steam  and  Power  Pumps  us*  much 
w  than  this.  r 

DUTY  Of  PUMPING  ENGINES  is  a  ratio  of  the  work  done  by  the  Pump  to  the  Steam  or 
Fuel  consumed,  and  is  usually  expressed  in  millionsof  foot'pouuds  per  1000  pouudsof  steam  used. 

THE  PIPING  OF  PUMPS  Is  a  much  more  important  matter  than  is  commonly  UiougU. 

SUCTION  PIPB5  should  be  short  and  straight  as  possible,  of  ample  size  and  arranged  to 
have  no  "pockets"  where  air  can  collect,  and  must  be  made  up  absolutely  air-tight.  Long  8ao 
lions  or  High  Lifts  should  always  have  a  Vacuum  Chamber  at  the  Pump. 

DISCHARGE  PIPES  should  be  as  large  and  as  straight  as  possible,  to  avoid  loss  of  powcrfn 
overcoming  the  friction.  The  friction  through  one  common  Elbow  is  *qual  to  that  through  60 
feet  of  straight  pipe. 

A  MINER'S  INCH  of  water  is  the  volume  flowing  per  minute  through  a  square  inch  of  open, 
ing  under  a  fixed  htad— usually  6  inches,  and  varies  from  10  to  12  gallons  per  minute.  The  only 
legal  -Miner's  Inch"  we  know  of  in  the  United  States  is  the  Tdaho  inch,  which  is  the  amount  of 
water  flowing  through  an  opening  one  inch  square  under  a  four-inch  pressure  or  head  of  water 
above  the  center  of  opening. 

TO  FIND  THE  SPEED  OR  SIZE  OF  PULLEYS: 

To  find  the  Diameter  of  the  driving  pulley:  Multiply  the  fliameter  of  the  driven  pulley  by  Us 
speed  and  divide  the  product  by  the  speed  of  the  driving  pulley. 

To  find  the  Speed  of  the  driving  pulley.  Multiply  the  diameter  of  the  driven  potley  by  tta 
speed  and  divide  the  product  by  the  diameter  of  the  driving  pulley. 

Tofind  the  Diameter  of  the  driven  pullev:  Multiply  the  diameter  of  the  driving  pulley  by  its 
speed  and  divide  the  product  by  the  speed  ot  the  driven  pulley. 

To  find  the  Speed  of  the  driven  pulley:  Multiply  the  diameter  of  the  driving  pulley  by  iU 
speed  and  divide  the  product  by  the  diameter  of  the  driven  pulley. 

SPEED  OF  GEARING  is  estimated  in  same  way.  substituting  the  nvmtvr  of  par  teeth  for 


Morris  Machine  Works 


MANUFACTURERS  OF 


Centrifugal  Pumping  Machinery  Designed 
for  any  irrigating  proposition 


Send  details  or  specifications  of  what  is  wanted  and  we 
will  recommend  a  pumping  outfit  to  supply  the  need 

New  York  office,  39-41  Cortlandt  Street 

Houston  office,  Cor.  Wood  and  Willow  Sts.,  Texas 

Henion  &  Hubbell,  Agents,  61  N.  Jefferson  St.,  Chicago 

Harron,  Rickard  &  McCone,  Agents 

21  Fremont  Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN     INITIAL     FINE     OF     25      CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


OCT  14    1932 


17  fig 


AUG  22  1945 

SEP    5 

OCT  9 


LD  'Jl- 


